


Starfall

by plainlystars



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, Johnny's WEST
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 11:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 64,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6467623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plainlystars/pseuds/plainlystars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nozomu meets a fallen star.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starfall

**Author's Note:**

> This got inspired based on something my sister said about Ryusei being so clumsy and everything. I thought 'hey, if he were a real shooting star, he'd be clumsy too, resulting to him falling down to Earth. So here it is~ Firstly, I would like to thank one particular person (K) for holding my hand throughout writing this and encouraging me along the way ♥ thank you, really ♥ And definitely my sister for beta-ing the whole thing so quickly ♥ Also, I wanna thank J & my sis for helping me out with the ending and discussing certain things with me. Finally, thank you to anyone who reads this!

The end of July arrives earlier than Nozomu expects it to. Still, Nozomu welcomes it with open arms, because it means that August is approaching soon. He welcomes the insane heat and unbearable humidity which accompanies it. For most people, August meant summer holidays, eating ice popsicles while their feet are buried in golden sand and barbeque in the backyard with freshly clean cut grass. However, for Nozomu, it meant sitting on the roof of his house for hours late at night and into the early morning, taking his telescope out from the cupboard and checking the weather forecasts and NASA’s webpage regularly. 

August is the Month of Meteors and as an Astronomy major, Nozomu welcomes it with much delight.

 _It is the heat_ , Nozomu concludes when he drowns out his math lecturer’s voice, instead choosing to focus on the drone of the air conditioner instead. Nozomu wants nothing more at that moment than to dash out of the Math lecture and go onto NASA’s website to read predictions about when the shooting stars this year could be seen. He would also very much rather check the weather forecast or prepare his stargazing instruments instead of sitting in this (boring) lecture. 

When he glances to his side, he sees his friend Hirano Sho whom he had accompanied to the lecture fast asleep on the desk. Nozomu lets out a dissatisfactory groan and whacks his friend on the head with a little more force than intended.

“Ow! Crap! Nozo – ”

Almost instantly at Sho’s outburst, a few shushing noises could be heard around them, effectively shutting the boy up. After a few seconds, he speaks up again, only much softer this time. 

“Non-chan,” Sho hisses in barely a whisper. “What was that for?”

Nozomu shoots Sho an accusatorily glare while Sho raises his hands up in defence and scowls at the older boy. 

“Who was the one who dragged me to this lecture because _he_ said it was important for him?” Nozomu asks harshly.

Sho merely frowns. “Me,” he answers simply.

His answer leaves Nozomu gaping, feeling incredulous over how much of an airhead the other could be. “And then who fell asleep?!” 

At the mention of ‘sleep’, Sho’s eyes widens to a comical extent. He opens and shuts his mouth a few times as if he was trying to say something but decides to give a small shrug in the end. 

“You know what I could be doing? I could be – ”

“Yeah,” Sho cuts Nozomu off as he gives him a lazy smile. “You could be going onto NASA’s website or checking the weather forecast to see shooting star predictions or something like that. Parasites or something,” Sho ends it with a wave of his hand, seemingly dismissing Nozomu’s annoyance.

“Perseids,” Nozomu instantly corrects, tone sharp. “It’s the annual Perseids meteor shower. Can’t you even get the name right?”

“I’m not an Astronomy major you know,” Sho says casually, turning his attention back to the professor and starts to act like he has been listening the whole time as he doodles random shapes in his open empty notebook. “It’s only near the end of July anyway, why are you so worried? Don’t you always tell me that the shooting stars only appear in mid August?”

The fact that Sho remembers Nozomu’s words about the annual Perseids meteor shower only occurring in mid August surprises the latter quite a fair bit. He doesn’t peg his friend as the type to remember such petty details about his major because Sho isn’t the least bit interested in Astronomy. But then again, Sho never fails to give him surprises (though some were really, _really_ bad surprises which never fail to make Nozomu shiver at the thought of them). 

“Star gazing can be done every night you know,” Nozomu reminds his friend gently, though his tone was slightly mocking. 

“It’s only mid-afternoon though,” Sho replies smartly, still not facing Nozomu as he continues drawing random shapes on his notebook while pretending to listen to what the professor is talking about. 

“I got to set up my equipment,” Nozomu groans. Maybe Sho has forgotten but surely Nozomu already has complained about setting up his equipments enough times for Sho to know that it is a chore (though he’s already used to the process so it doesn’t really take up much time). He has to find the suitable telescope to use depending on the temperature and wind direction that night. He also has to find a suitable place to carry out this particular activity because stars look different everywhere and he, being an Astronomy major, naturally wants the best view possible. 

“Yeah and you live like five minutes away from the university. Also, class ends in about five minutes,” Sho shoots back smoothly with a smug look on his face causing Nozomu to glare.

Sho has been hanging out too much with that Photography major named Koji or something recently. He is getting a little smarter and snarkier. It isn’t annoying to Nozomu but it was just different. 

Just then, the bell rings, signalling the end of the lesson.

“Got to go set up your Hubble telescope?” Sho asks as he wiggles his brows, a gesture Nozomu deems absolutely annoying. Sho is already done packing his stuff, Nozomu notices. That was incredibly quick. So Nozomu’s guess is that Sho is off to meet that Photography major again. 

“Very funny,” Nozomu comments dryly before slinging his bag over his shoulder when he finishes packing.

Sho shrugs lightly, patting Nozomu on the shoulder before saying a quick goodbye and disappearing in the blink of an eye like a shooting star. 

While shaking his head fondly, Nozomu pulls out his phone from his pocket to check for updates regarding the Perseids meteor shower. He scrolls through his newsfeed, only stopping now and then to read a few articles concerning the Perseids meteor shower. The predictions he finds are all quite similar so he stores the dates in his mind before walking out of the lecture theatre slowly.

_12th to 14th August._

 

 

When Nozomu gets home, the first thing he does (besides greeting his mother) is to dash up to his room, dump his bag somewhere among his clothes strewn all over the place and then to pull out his star gazing equipment. After he gets everything out, he pulls off his short-sleeved shirt and pulls on a hoodie. He knows it is going to be slightly colder than usual summer nights that night because he has checked the weather forecast beforehand. He stares at his jeans in the full length mirror and ponders if he should change into a pair of sweats to feel more comfortable. Two minutes after trying to decide what to do with his jeans, he decides to change out of them and into a pair of sweats which matches his hoodie. 

“Mum, I’m going to be on the roof tonight,” Nozomu shouts, notifying his mother before walking out of the house, not bothering to wait for a reply because he doesn’t really need one. He usually just informs his mother where he is going to be when he leaves the house so she wouldn’t have to worry if he doesn’t turn up at the dinner table later on. His family understands what he likes to do anyway, so they have no problems with him staying on the rooftop the entire night (and sometimes day) to observe the stars.

Besides, it is going to be the Month of Meteors soon. And his family knows how important that is for Nozomu and he is sincerely extremely grateful for his family’s support of this interest of his.

 

 

Nozomu takes in a deep breath as he steps into the garden. A slight breeze blows, causing him to shiver slightly and goose bumps to form on his forearms. He strides into the storage hut which is the only access to the roof, lugging his stuff up the ladder. 

The roof of his house is designed in such a way that there is a small space in the centre of it, big enough for two people to occupy. Nozomu never goes up with anyone because he never found the need to invite anyone up and nobody he knows besides his classmates are interested in star gazing anyway and he isn’t all that close to them. So he uses the space for himself and his equipments.

He sets up his equipment while humming the tune of some famous pop song. The process is familiar to him, having done it countless of times before and so the setup is done within a matter of minutes. 

Looking up at the sky, Nozomu exhales slowly, captivated by the hues of red, orange and yellow painting the sky, blending and overlapping with one another, creating the portrait of a sunset. He stares at the expanse of crimson red slowly disappearing, only to be replaced by a soft purple glow. He doesn’t know how long he has been staring at the sky, waiting for nightfall to come quicker but when he leans back, hands behind him on the floor for support, the sky is dyed a deep blue, scattered with little glowing lights all over, decorating the dark canvas. 

He raises his right hand and forms a small circle with his thumb and his other four fingers as he closes his left eye to look through the small window he has formed with his right hand. He pretends, for a moment, that he can see every star without the telescope and that his small window offers a microscopic view, allowing him to see every edge and every curve of each constellation. 

Nozomu brings his hand away to look at the whole sky once more before looking into the eyepiece of the telescope, ready to view the world of wonder and lights.

All he sees for a while are tiny blazes of brilliant light until he adjusts the zoom of his telescope and slowly he starts seeing a clearer vision of the stars. He turns the telescope a little and stops when he spies an asterism; an obvious grouping of stars too big to be a star cluster but too small to be a constellation. 

Eight bright stars form that asterism, projecting the image of a teapot. Nozomu identifies this cosmic teapot as the constellation Sagittarius. He studies a few omission nebulas – the Lagoon, Swan and Omega nebula – before turning his focus to above the teapot’s lid where he finds the Sagittarius Cluster. 

The bright and glittering collection of stars steals Nozomu’s breath away as he takes the sight of it all in, etching the familiar view of the cluster of twinkling galore into the back of his mind once again like all the other times he does star gazing. 

To the right of the teapot’s spout, the rich and sparkling Butterfly and Ptolemy’s Clusters comes into Nozomu’s view. He reaches a hand out, grasping cool thin air as he imagines he’s holding one of the stars. If he imagines hard enough, he can feel the surface of the star, smooth and silky, as if it would slip out of his grip any moment. 

He sees a few young stars surrounding Sagittarius but he isn’t able to put a name to every one of them because he isn’t that knowledgeable in astronomy _yet_. Still, he imagines stroking and caressing every one of them gently as if they would break if he isn’t being careful enough. 

When Nozomu closes his eyes, he can see Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer, the constellations Aquila and Indus. He sees the myth of Sagittarius playing out and the characters in it – Scorpio the Scorpion and Orion the Hunter. He sees the bow and arrow in Sagittarius’ hands and he can see that the arrow is about to leave the archer’s bow as Sagittarius hand leaves the string.

If Nozomu imagines further, he can see Pegasus, the Big Dipper and the Milky Way. He can see the specks of dust scattered around the galaxy, asteroids floating around aimlessly and cosmic rays glowing and emanating radiance. 

Nozomu stops looking into the telescope and lies flat on his back as he stares at the sky from in between his fingertips of his outstretched palm. He maps out Sagittarius from his memories and he finds Aquila, Scorpio and Orion from there. He visualises standing next to Sagittarius as the latter releases the arrow. In the next moment, he sees himself next to Orion and the arrow is coming towards him. It doesn’t make him falter because the next moment, the arrow bursts into sizzles of vivid light. 

He lowers his hand to get a proper view of the whole night sky. He thinks he can see Sagittarius well enough without the telescope because there are no clouds in the sky; it is as clear as a transparent glass window. The thought of being able to see the constellations without needing a telescope sends a small smile onto Nozomu’s face as he hums in approval.

With that in mind, Nozomu slowly drifts off to sleep. He has thoughts of a thousand shooting stars materialising in the expanse of pitch black, moving across the sky rapidly, and streaking the ocean of darkness with luminosity. The dazzling assemblage of twinkling silver shatters the stillness of the night sky and replaces it with the ambience of a party. 

In the dead of the night where everyone is asleep in hush silence and comfortable dreams, the shooting stars are soundless with grace and elegance as they dance through the night sky, filling up the blackness with their torch of brightness. 

But in the blink of an eye, the horizon of pure shimmer would disappear because shooting stars are fleeting, too dazzling to look at for more than a second.

Nozomu falls asleep and dreams about the annual Perseids meteor showers.

 

 

“So I fell asleep – ”

“Wait,” Sho cuts Nozomu off promptly. “You mean you slept on your roof the _whole_ night?” There is a small smirk playing on his face, causing Nozomu to frown because he doesn’t think it is as amusing as Sho has seemed to find it to be.

“Yeah.” Nozomu shoots Sho a glare when the latter explodes in a fit of hysteric giggles. “As I was saying,” he continues but pauses as soon as he realises that Sho is still laughing (manically like a hyena and he looks really dumb). “Would you shut up.”

That isn’t a question but Sho still asks _why_ anyway because he thinks it is a question. It takes Nozomu every inch and ounce of self control not to bring Sho up to the highest point of the school building and throw him off.

“Carry on,” Sho says, waving his hand, a gesture to tell Nozomu to continue speaking. 

Nozomu rolls his eyes but carries on talking anyway. “So yeah, I fell asleep on the rooftop.” He stops when he hears Sho stifling a giggle and glare daggers in Sho’s direction to which the younger boy replies by fanning Nozomu, an attempt to ‘cool him down’.

“Then you got scolded by your mum in the morning and got laughed at by your sister and the neighbours. Your dad is actually used to it so he was unfazed by your little stunt. And then your back ached and all that crap, what else?” Sho helps Nozomu fill in all the small details he knows about so he can hear the interesting part sooner. “What was your dream about?”

“Okay, yes all that and then my dream…” Nozomu trails off as he purses his lips, trying to think of words to describe his dream. _It mustn’t sounds too astronomy-ish for Sho to understand._ “A shooting star fell into my house. Fell into my room. At the foot of my bed to be exact.”

“Oh.” Sho looks surprised and that in turn, surprises Nozomu because he really expected his friend to burst out laughing and go into another one of his giggling fits. “Those are called meteorites right?” 

Now that – Sho knowing what meteorites are – shocks Nozomu as he stares at his friend with his mouth hanging open (unattractively).

“Quit gaping,” Sho says with more force than intended, trying to hide his embarrassed blush because he actually remembers some of Nozomu’s astronomy lessons. “Yes, I know what a meteorite is. Just forget that and continue.”

Nozomu grins because Sho could be so sweet _sometimes_ , when he’s not making ridiculous comments and dragging Nozomu to and fro the whole country to try out new food or go shopping.

“What I wanted to tell you initially before I decided that I should simplify –”

A noise of protest escapes Sho’s throat as he kicks Nozomu’s knee with his leg underneath the table. 

The kick earns Sho a threatening glare from Nozomu but the latter simply ignores the noise of protest Sho makes and continues. “I initially wanted to tell you that a meteorite appeared – okay, not appeared but crashed through my window, fell into my room, landed at the foot of my bed and then I kept it and I became famous because I started tweeting about it. I got offered a scholarship and NASA wanted to hire me to be a high ranking staff.” Nozomu wiggles his eyebrows as Sho scoffs.

“A rock isn’t going to help you get all that.”

“It’s a meteorite.” Nozomu frowns. “I thought you learned.”

“A _meteorite_ ,” Sho starts condescendingly, paying no heed to the way Nozomu squints his eyes at him, “isn’t going to make you famous or get you a job.”

When Nozomu opens his mouth to say something, to protest, Sho guesses, the younger of the two speaks up first, not allowing Nozomu a chance to say anything. “Don’t you get these dreams every year? I remember how in high school you dreamt that a star fell into your backyard after watching Stardust and then two years ago you dreamt that a nebula appeared in your bathtub and just last year you dreamt that your room turned into the Milky Way. I mean.” Sho makes some ridiculous gestures with his hand which Nozomu scoffs at and then he realises that those silly gestures are meant to describe _his_ absurd, according to Sho, dreams.

“But it’s different this time.” Nozomu continues, full of seriousness. “It feels like…” he waves his hands in the air spastically as if that would explain some things. “It feels different. I know it is. It _is_ diff – ”

“No it’s not,” Sho cuts him short. “It. Is. _Not._.” He makes sure to punctuate and enunciate each word clearly so that Nozomu would not have the chance of making up excuses like _I didn’t hear it_. “It’s not different. It’s just like all your other dreams.” Sho gives Nozomu a thoughtful look before continuing. “They always end with you becoming famous and successful and I worry.”

“What,” Nozomu bites out. “Exactly is wrong with me being famous and successful?”

Apparently, Sho doesn’t share Nozomu’s thoughts on this matter. “What’s wrong?” Sho asks while clutching his heart to act dramatic and hurt that Nozomu cannot see where he is coming from. “What’s wrong is that I worry because you don’t seem like the famous and successful kind.”

There is an empty milk carton flying Sho’s way and he lets out an undignified squeak before taking cover by holding up a tray and hitting the object down with it. 

“I was going to say more!” Sho squeaks again when he sees another milk carton flying towards him, only this time, the milk carton isn’t empty. He throws the tray aside and takes cover by bending down sideways this time. The milk carton lends on the floor behind him with a loud thud and Sho shivers at the thought of what if the milk carton collided with his head instead. “I was going to say more,” he whines, shooting Nozomu his most pitiful expression ever and does a little victory dance when Nozomu merely growls at him, not throwing anything his way anymore.

“I was going to say…” Sho covers his face when his eyes meet Nozomu’s. He parts his fingers so that he could take a peek at Nozomu’s expression. When he deems it safe to speak again, he lowers his hands and rests his cheeks against his palms. “I was going to say that I’m worried because you keep dreaming about success. It’s a little scary you know? I don’t want achievement to be all you can think about.”

Nozomu rolls his eyes. “Who did you learnt that from?”

And then Sho is wailing, whining about how Nozomu has no faith in him and a whole load of other crap Nozomu honestly doesn’t care about. “What do you mean _who_ did I learn all that from?! It’s all from my head. Seriously, Nozomu you have no fai – ”

“Yes, I don’t.” Nozomu stares at Sho when the younger boy whines again. “Is it Koji? That Photography major?”

Sho stops resting his elbows on the table and his cheeks in his hands and sits up straight. “How do you know about Koji?”

There it is again – the urge to throw Sho off the building. 

“I don’t know,” Nozomu says sarcastically with a shrug of his shoulders for further dramatic (but unnecessary) emphasis. “It’s not like you don’t talk about him every day?”

A blush creeps onto Sho’s face as he punches Nozomu’s arm lightly. “He’s really smart okay.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Nozomu laughs when Sho’s face turns even redder. “Anyway, I’m not achievement obsessed. It’s just that…” he pauses as he tries to find the right words to say while playing with the sleeve of his shirt. “What can you get out of a meteorite?”

They lapse into silence because Nozomu isn’t stupid or desperate enough to answer his own question and besides, he asked it to hear what Sho has to say. While Sho on the other hand doesn’t really have an answer yet. 

So Nozomu waits because he is kind and understanding and knows the limits of his friend’s brain when someone (like Koji) isn’t there to give him answers or smart things to say. 

“Money?” Sho answers after what feels like a thousand centuries. “I mean, well, what else can you get out of that?”

“Exactly,” Nozomu says with a snap of his fingers which scares Sho. “That’s my point.” He grins, proud with himself that even Sho could see what he is trying to say. “I can’t see myself doing anything with something from space because one, I don’t have the equipments to maintain it and it’ll be a waste if I keep it, and two, I only want to study it with what I have and what I can study. I’m an Astronomy major and astronomy is my passion, interest and blah but I’m not a maniac. I’m not going to hug a meteorite to sleep. Three, if I can get money out of selling it to a museum or NASA, why not? Oh and four, taking a few pictures with it to post onto Instagram and Twitter isn’t going to hurt me. I’m good looking and I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Ah,” Sho says while staring at Nozomu with a blank look on his face because the latter was speaking too quickly just now and Sho’s still trying to process everything. “Okay,” he says a few minutes later.

“I’m very, very,” Nozomu drops his tone an octave lower to stress what he is going to say. “Excited for the meteor showers.”

Sho chuckles fondly as he tries to ruffle Nozomu’s hair slightly and only barely managing to because he still has trouble reaching the top of the other’s head even when the other is sitting down. Nozomu is just too tall. 

“You say that every year.”

 

 

The last week of July doesn’t pass as quickly as Nozomu wants it to. In between hanging out with his friends and finding a part time job to last through summer, he doesn’t have enough time to check for the Perseids meteor shower predictions. And he isn’t particularly happy about the situation. Not that he isn’t happy spending time with his friends but they have seriously been taking up _too much_ of his time recently. 

“Nozomu, want to catch a movie?” Kamiyama calls out.

It is only then does Nozomu realise that he hasn’t been keeping up with the group because he was too lost in his own thoughts and busy staring out the glass windows of the mall. He slow jogs over to where the group has stopped and offers them an apologetic grin. 

“Movie?” Sho asks.

As Nozomu weighs that option in his mind against going home to read up more on the Perseids meteor showers, he’s really tempted to choose the second option. But when he looks at all his friends’ hopeful faces, he groans and nods his head. 

They laugh and cheer as Kamiyama pats his back, sending him a quick apology and saying something like _you have the whole August for your stars_. Nozomu can’t help but let a small grin slip onto his face as he thinks about the tiny white dots lighting up the sky to their full splendour.

It’s true that his friends are taking up too much of his time but when they are gathered together like this, Nozomu finds it difficult to say no because he _can’t_ find it in himself to do so. 

He allows Kamiyama to pull him down for the latter to throw his arms around his shoulder and laughs out heartily when Sho cracks a stupid joke.

 

 

It is the last day of July (or first day of August) and it comes rather unexpectedly to Nozomu because he wakes up with his cheek pressed against a cold floor tile and he’s missing his jeans. He barely notices the hand resting on his butt until he sits up and sees dead drunk bodies all over the floor. After looking around, he concludes that he is currently in Sho’s house; in his living room to be exact.

He stretches to relieve the muscle kinks from sleeping too long on a cold, hard ground and smiles lazily when he hears a satisfying pop from the joint at his shoulder. In an attempt to look for his jeans, he pushes the body lying next to him to check if it is there but is met with no success. 

Five minutes of looking for his jeans and he gives up entirely, choosing to grab a random pair of jeans off the backrest of one of the wooden chairs in the living room instead. He groans when he finds some difficult in wearing them. The problem doesn’t lie with the length because the owner sure has long legs and he is absolutely thankful for that. It is the throbbing pain in his head which is making it difficult. 

“Fucking,” Nozomu hisses as he tries to balance while attempting to get his legs into one of the holes. “Hangover.” He grits his teeth and closes his eyes before reopening them and feeling a little more orientated than before. Then he manoeuvres over to a wall while dragging the pair of jeans with his legs in his half dressed state. Leaning against the wall, he allows the pounding headache to slowly disappear. But it doesn’t. 

Knowing that it is useless to wait for the painful throbbing to cease, Nozomu decides to focus all his energy on pulling up the pair of jeans instead. He slowly takes in the situation in front of him: one leg in and it is pulled up to his knee. _Not bad_ , Nozomu muses. Considering how long his legs are, pulling the pair of jeans up to his knee is a pretty magnificent feat, especially when he is having a hangover and is majorly disorientated. 

Taking in a deep breath, he yanks the pair of jeans up and groans when he feels a sudden constriction around his waist. Whoever these jeans belong to definitely has a slimmer waist than him. Still, it isn’t too much of a problem for him to button and zip up the jeans. (Although he did have to take in a very deep breath).

Nozomu glances around in search of Sho (who is probably dead drunk but Nozomu still wants to tell his friend that he is leaving). When he fails to do so, he busies himself with looking for his phone which he had probably left on the dining table the night before. 

He spots a random phone lying on the couch and figures that it’d be no harm in using it to dial his number. The only thing he would get out of it is a stranger having his number. No big deal really. So he walks over to the couch with wobbling legs while trying not to kick or trip over anyone in the process (he wasn’t very successful). When he reaches the couch, he flops onto it and does a little victory punch to the air before picking up the phone.

After laughing at the wallpaper of baby Teletubbies, he keys in his number and waits for the dialling tone to ring. When he hears the familiar beeping sound, he waits for a few seconds before hearing his own ringtone. He pulls the phone away from his ears but brings it along with him when he leaves the couch to find his phone. Through his search, he had to re-dial his number a few times because the ringing stopped before he could reach it. After what seems like an entirety of searching for his phone, Nozomu sees the electronic device in someone’s bag. On top of that, he also sees his wallet lying inside. He has almost forgotten about that object. 

There is no rush at all so Nozomu takes his time fishing them out among cosmetic products and other things as he uses his other hand to delete his number from the phone he had used to find his own. He definitely isn’t going to feel comfortable knowing that a Teletubbies fan has his number. Although he’s guessing that that person might not actually be a real Teletubbies fan and that it was a dare from his/her friends to set those horrendous nightmares as a wallpaper, he isn’t going to take a risk.

He pockets his own phone, groaning at the tightness of the jeans and decides to hold his wallet to spare his legs from the unnecessary discomfort then he throws the stranger’s phone back onto the couch before walking out the front door with unsteady feet. Luckily for him, he manages to hail a cab as soon as he makes it to the main road without puking all over the pedestrian. He all but throws himself into the backseat of the cab and then shuts his eyes as he tries not to focus on how tight the pair of jeans is before murmuring his address which he isn’t sure if the driver has heard but the vehicle starts moving so he doesn’t really bother repeating. It doesn’t take long for Nozomu to drift into a light slumber as he tries to ignore the turns and breaks the cab is making.

It turns out that the driver had heard his address correctly because when Nozomu opens eyes ten or fifteen minutes later, he sees the familiar scenery which surrounds his neighbourhood. _Five more minutes, three more turns and two more houses_ , Nozomu thinks when the driver makes another turn. 

His prediction comes true and Nozomu pays for the fare and doesn’t bother checking the counter to ensure that the driver isn’t cheating his money before saying thank you and getting out of the car.

He struggles to be as silent as possible when he pushes open the front door. When he successfully enters the house and closes the front door with as minimal noise as possible, he toes off his shoes and leaves them on the floor before tiptoeing up the stairs to his room.

Once he’s in his room, he flings himself onto his bed and buries himself in his soft pillows and comforter. Two minutes pass before he dozes off into a deep sleep.

 

 

It is afternoon when Nozomu finally wakes up. He tries to open his eyes but fails miserably. After ten minutes or so, he decides to drag himself off his bed but it doesn’t happen. 

“Nozomu, are you up yet?” A voice calls from the opposite side of his bedroom door as the owner of the voice knocks on the door.

Even in his inebriated state, Nozomu could still faintly recognise his mother’s voice so he grunts in response. When the knocking doesn’t stop, he knows that a grunt did not suffice as an answer. He mumbles something that is incoherent even to himself before pushing himself up off his back. He stays in a slouched position for a while and starts when the knocking grows louder.

“Nozomu? Are you – ”

“I’m out!” Nozomu shouts and then corrects himself immediately, “I mean, I’m up!”

“Okay…” 

His mother doesn’t sound convinced and Nozomu makes some whining noise. “I’m really up,” he shouts again and groans when he feels a slight pain in his head. He bends down to massage his temples as he listens to his mother.

“There’s leftover spaghetti in the fridge from last night’s dinner if you’re hungry. You’ll just have to heat it up.” 

Nozomu stops his mini massage session and shoots upright. Last night’s dinner? Spaghetti? Why wasn’t he home? Questions flood his mind and he feels another oncoming major headache. When he figures that it is easier to ask his mother, he gets up quickly, hoping to catch his mother before she leaves the house.

He jumps out of bed and makes a dash for the door, turning the knob as soon as it is within reach and pushing the door open with more force than necessary. When he sees his mother walking out of her room, he heaves a sigh of relief and slumps against the door.

“Finally up?” She asks as she busies herself with checking her workbag at the top of the stairs. “Did you hear what I said just now?”

“I’ve been up for quite a while,” Nozomu defends himself and frowns. “And yeah, I heard what you said…” he pauses as he tries to remember the questions he had wanted to ask. 

“Anything else?” His mother asks while looking at him.

“I wasn’t home for dinner?” He scratches his head and starts looking unsure of himself when his mother gives him a pointed look. 

She sighs and raises her hand to her hair to run her fingers through them but stops herself, not wanting to ruin its styling. She drops her hand to her side as she sighs exasperatedly at Nozomu, making her son wince. “You were at Sho’s house remember? Some party.” She motions with her hand and Nozomu grins grimly, hoping that the next question he expects wouldn’t come. But life isn’t fair. “How much did you drink exactly?” His mother asks with her eyes squinted.

All of a sudden, the memories of the previous night rushes back to Nozomu and he scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Quite a bit.”

“Evidently,” she says, more to confirm than to reply and turns briskly to walk down the flight of steps.

Nozomu responds with a dry chuckle. He then abruptly remembers the time and how his mother is still at home. Shouldn’t she be at work? He clears his throat and his mother stops walking down the stairs to turn around to face him.

“Yes?” She asks with her arms crossed and Nozomu smiles sheepishly as he makes his way over to the top of the stairs and sits down, letting his long legs rest against the steps when he stretches them out. 

“Why are you still at home?”

“I’m about to leave.”

“Yeah, I can see that but shouldn’t you be at work already?” 

Again, his mother sighs and he pouts. Then she starts walking back up a few steps, nudging his legs aside on the way up and stopping at where his upper thighs were resting before squatting down. She gives him an overly sweet smile which causes an involuntary shiver to run down his spine. “I should be at work already,” she says and Nozomu hums in agreement, dread pooling in his stomach. 

When she leans in closer, he positions both his hand behind him, ready to bolt if she decides to _attack_ him. But as he evaluates the position they are in, he concludes that it would be difficult to make a run for without hurting his mother in the process. So he settles with putting on his best pitiable face possible and stares at her with kicked puppy eyes. They don’t seem to have any effect on her as she simply ruffles his hair, causing him to frown. 

“I should be at work already,” she repeats her previous words. “But as I was about to leave, I realised that my baby boy was home.” She stops to glance at Nozomu with a cool gaze. “Then after I walked into his room to check on him, I realised that he reeked of alcohol and was in someone else’s jeans.”

At the mention of someone else’s jeans, Nozomu looks down and his hands start fidgeting around his pants. When his fingers brush against soft cotton instead of jeans, he realises that he is in a pair of sweatpants, _his own_ sweatpants. He flushes when he figures that someone must have helped him change. His head shoots up only to see an amused expression on his mother’s face. 

“I got your sister to help you change.”

“Mum!” Nozomu whines. 

“What?” She asks, clearly unbothered by how Nozomu was reacting. “She used to do that all the time.”

“But I’m not a kid anymore,” Nozomu huffs out, indignant. “I’m an adult now, I’m a man,” he ends proudly and crosses his arms over one another as he stares at his mother, a defiant look plastered across his face.

“I’m sure you are,” she says and ruffles his hair in delight. Her eyes widen as she checks her watch. “I’m going to be late, dear, I’ve got to go.”

“You’re already late…” Nozomu points out and receives a whack on the head. 

“I called in to say that I was going to be late thanks to my little boy already.”

“Not little,” Nozomu protests.

“Still my baby,” she counters as she squishes his cheek. “Painkillers for your hangover are on the kitchen counter. Take two once you have eaten something. I love you.” She presses a kiss to his forehead before quickly walking down the stairs.

“Thanks mum!” Nozomu calls out and she doesn’t turn around but she waves one of her hands as the other opens the door. “Bye! Take care! I love you too!”

This time, she turns around and smiles at him before waving goodbye again and then leaving the house, closing the door gently. Nozomu blows her a kiss but she doesn’t see it. 

He stays seated for a while before pushing himself up onto his feet and stalking back to his room to wash up. When he enters his room, however, he gets a strong urge to barrow into his bed and stay snuggled among his pillow and comforter. The thought disappears quickly enough though because he feels bile rising up his throat. 

He ignores the stack of books he kicks down as he dashes to the bathroom. He manages to kneel in front of the toilet seat before he starts vomiting (probably last night’s food).

When he is done, he washes up quickly, though he makes sure he’s thorough; he isn’t an unhygienic person. After staring at his shower for a while, he decides to take a quick shower to freshen up. Although it is only the first day of August, he has a lot to do. 

The first thing he does after his shower is to check his phone. On the screen, he sees _37 missed calls_ and _14 messages_ and thinks _not bad_ before proceeding to see who this insistent person, or people, is. 

_Nakama Junta_.

He quirks a brow because he doesn’t remember anything he had done which would warrant him a call from his senpai. After checking the messages, he realises why he had received those calls. 

All fourteen messages only has one main message for him: _Kotaki Nozomu, return me my jeans._

As he starts scrolling through his contact list to look for Junta’s number, his phone rings. _Nakama Junta_. Nozomu coughs a few times before answering the phone.

“Hello?” Nozomu says, trying to sound as normal as possible.

“My jeans,” is the first thing Junta says over the phone and thankfully for Nozomu, the older boy does not sound angry or annoyed or anything even remotely close to any of that.

“Yes,” Nozomu continues calmly. “But how did you know?”

“Someone saw you and told me,” Junta replies simply.

“Someone being Sho?” 

“Yes.”

Nozomu makes a mental note to murder his friend when he next sees him because, one, Sho didn’t tell him that it was Junta’s jeans that he was ‘borrowing’ and two, Sho had probably known where his jeans were. 

“Is my jeans with you?” Nozomu asks hesitantly. 

No response comes over the line and Nozomu starts to panic a little. But he waits patiently anyway, not wanting to rush his senpai for an answer since it is his fault in the first place.

After another beat, Junta answers _yes_ and Nozomu sighs in relief. He was really hoping that his jeans wouldn’t end up with some stranger he doesn’t know. Junta isn’t someone he would leave his jeans with to be very honest but he doesn’t really have a choice. 

“You want to meet somewhere or something?”

“Shouldn’t you come over?” Junta snaps over the line causing Nozomu to cringe.

“Okay, okay,” Nozomu agrees easily but then an evil thought strikes his mind. He knows that he shouldn’t use it on his senpai but he really doesn’t want to leave the house. “Senpai.”

“Hm?”

“Nice wallpaper by the way.”

Even if Nozomu is not with Junta at the moment, he could swear that the other has just frozen on the spot. He tries to stop himself from chuckling when the other doesn’t reply.

“I’m coming over,” Junta growls into the phone. “I’m around your neighbourhood. Give me five.”

“Sure, senpai. Anything, senpai.”

“You brat.”

And with that, the call ends with Nozomu feeling victorious but a little fearful of Junta’s wrath which he is about to face. He thinks back to Junta treating him to ice-cream and yakiniku and concludes that Junta isn’t that scary so he shouldn’t be worrying about anything at all.

When the doorbell rings, he jumps because even though he isn’t exactly sure, he has a feeling which tells him that five minutes hasn’t passed since the phone call. But he has to open the door anyway so he trudges down the stairs and musters his best smiling face ever before opening the door.

“Good morning, senpai!” Nozomu greets enthusiastically and cheerfully to which Junta replies with a roll of his eyes.

“My jeans?”

“Do you want to come in for awhile? Have tea?”

Junta looks at Nozomu for a while, his facial expression telling Nozomu that he is actually considering the idea. But he shakes his head in the end. “Not today. I have things to do today.” 

“O-kay,” Nozomu drags the first syllabus on purpose and Junta hits his leg gently with a paper bag.

“Your jeans,” Junta explains as he swings the paper bag in Nozomu’s direction who accepts it with a thank you. “And mine?”

“Hang on,” Nozomu says and goes back into the house to retrieve Junta’s jeans. He realises that he doesn’t have a bag for it but finds a solution straight away. He takes out his jeans from the paper bag and dumps it somewhere on the couch before throwing Junta’s pair of jeans in. 

When he walks back to the door with the paper bag in hand, Junta frowns. “Isn’t that –”

“Your jeans,” Nozomu completes the sentence for Junta and holds the paper bag out for the older boy to take it.

“I just gave you this bag a few moments ago.”

“Yeah, but this is my house and I don’t need a bag to store my jeans.”

Junta makes an exasperated noise, sounding somewhere in between incredulous and mortified as he takes the paper bag. He pinches the bridge of his nose and looks up the sky, mumbling a few things like _lazy boy_ , _I can’t believe him_ and _oh my gosh_. 

This in turn makes Nozomu smile lazily. “Are you okay, senpai?”

“I will not be mocked by you.” With that, Junta turns on his heels and starts walking away.

“Thanks for coming over, senpai!” Nozomu calls after him. He continues when Junta doesn’t reply. “Bye, senpai! Love your wallpaper by the way!” He sniggers when he sees Junta flashing him the finger and then proceeds to shut the door. 

His stomach grumbles as soon as he shuts the door. “Shut up. I’m going to feed you now.” 

 

 

Surprisingly, he doesn’t blow up the kitchen when he heats up the leftover spaghetti and he doesn’t flood the place when he does the dishes. He reads the painkillers’ packaging for fun before popping two into his mouth. It must be something to do with his mentality but he feels instantaneously better after taking the pills. 

He walks back to his room slowly and checks the time once he’s in his room. _4.28 pm_ , his clock reads. That’s plenty of time to do important research regarding the annual Perseids meteor showers. He is _finally_ in August. To say that he waits for this annual event every year with patience would be the biggest lie of the century. It’s all he ever talks about because when the year starts, it’s _eight months to the showers_ and once it’s over, it’s _one more year to the showers_. There never is an end and it is something that he anticipates every year.

Without further ado, Nozomu flops down onto his bed, more than eager to begin his research about the meteor showers. There is a firm purpose today now that he is finally in August – he is going to check the predictions of when the long-awaited showers are going to appear. Damn, he can barely contain his excitement. If he doesn’t have something so important at hand, he is more than sure that he will be jumping up and down in a flurry of unstoppable glee. 

Glancing at the screen, Nozomu notes with satisfaction that the dates are still the same – the showers are still going to appear between the 12h and 14th of August. 

As he scrolls through NASA’s webpage, he starts humming ‘Shooting Star’ by Owl City and smiles when he finds an article he’s interested in. He spends another hour reading articles and checking out good spots for watching the meteor show. 

Nozomu hears a car pulling up in the driveway and the front door opening a few moments after. All of these are signs that he is going to have dinner soon. Excellent. His headache has subsided significantly but his stomach is actually feeling rather empty despite the plate of spaghetti he had earlier on.

After checking the time, he calculates that he still has another thirty minutes to spare before his usual dinner time so he goes into his bathroom for another shower that day. The summer heat is really unbearable.

When he steps out of his bathroom, he hears his father calling him and grins because _how timely_. He throws on a plain white t-shirt as he pulls on a random pair of slacks which is lying on the backrest of his chair, not bothering to dry his hair properly and letting droplets drip onto the back of his shirt.

 

 

“So the meteor showers can be seen from 12th to 14th August,” Nozomu says through a mouthful of rice which earns him a glare from his mother because _manners_. He smiles apologetically before swallowing and then continues. “I have a part time job at the café,” he says as he waves towards the window. “I’ll be working from tomorrow onwards then I’m taking a few days off for the showers before going back again.”

“Will you be home those few days?” His sister asks. 

A look of uncertainty graces Nozomu’s face causing his sister to send him a questioning gaze. He shrugs in response and receives a kick in the shin by his sister in return because she wants a proper answer.

“Yeah,” he answers while pouting at his sister. “I guess…” His reply earns him another kick in the other shin. 

“What?” Nozomu splutters and leans back a little, almost falling back as he tilts the chair backwards but he leans forward in time to prevent himself from falling.

“You _guess_?”

Nozomu deepens his pout and starts poking his rice with his chopsticks. “I’m not sure yet. I might set up a tent there…” he trails off.

“But you can only see the shooting stars at night!” His sister says, sounding a little annoyed and their mother laughs while shaking her head fondly. 

And Nozomu smiles, because he knows that his sister wants him home and doesn’t want to be separated from him for too long. “Okay, okay. I’m coming home every night or early morning. Whenever I’m done.”

“Just don’t get into trouble and text us your location,” his father says calmly before taking a sip from his bowl of soup. “And try not to fall asleep there or you’ll worry all of us.”

At that, Nozomu chuckles and waves his chopsticks in the air. “Don’t worry about me. It’s not my first time doing this. I’ll be fine.”

His father sends him a look which clearly says _I don’t trust you_ but Nozomu simply shrugs and continues eating. Despite what his father’s trying to say, Nozomu knows that his father trusts him enough. Otherwise he wouldn’t even be allowed to go to parties and come home at some weird hour.

“Try to get photos or a video!” His sister gushes excitedly as she grabs onto his hand and shakes it a little.

“I’ll try,” Nozomu promises with a grin.

 

 

The first thing Nozomu says when he enters the café he’s working part time at is _eleven more days_ and Akito, the owner, doesn’t even bother asking _what_ because he knows. Nozomu has been working this job part time for the last two summers and Akito knows better than to ask.

Akito was Nozomu’s senior in school and was a second year high school student when the latter was only in his first year of middle school. Their school is one where the middle and high school students study in the same building so they had the chance to interact with each other. They came to know each other after Nozomu had joined the soccer club which Akito was in and they grew close very quickly when Akito started giving him free tuition and brining him out to places. It was only a matter of time before the two became almost inseparable despite the age difference.

But Akito hadn’t pursued a degree at university after graduating from high school. Instead, he went to a culinary school to polish his already solid foundation in baking and took some classes related to business management because it had always been his dream to set up a café of his own. A year after graduating, he took a loan from the bank and set up his shop. He had invited Nozomu to the opening ceremony and they younger boy has been a regular ever since.

It is a small café which is able to house around thirty people (thirty four to be exact if you count the number of chairs). There is a door near the counter which leads to an adjoining room which serves as a sort of mini library. Books are shelved inside and there are a few tables there for people to read, write or study. The café is kind of a ‘study café’ and when Nozomu’s not working, he comes here often to study. 

Usually, Nozomu works as a waiter or as a cashier but he has been asking Akito recently if he could go into the kitchen to bake some cakes and cookies. As always, Akito’s replies have been _no, I’m not going to risk getting my kitchen blown up_. But Nozomu has an odd feeling today that he would be allowed in the kitchen.

“How many days is the peak of the showers going to last?” Akito asks, genuinely interested because he is a nice guy who cares about his friends. He stops cleaning the countertop and rests his elbows on top of it to lean over.

“Three,” Nozomu replies smugly as if he is the one controlling how long their peak period is.

Akito nods and gives Nozomu a warm smile as he pats the younger boy on the back before he goes back to cleaning the countertop with his previously abandoned cloth. “So you’ll be taking time off work then?” 

Nozomu simply nods and sends Akito a warm smile of his own.

 

 

Two hours into his shift and Nozomu gets called to the kitchen by Akito. He grins and takes off his nametag, placing it in a box next to the cash register and then taking off his apron and hanging it. The café is fairly empty and Akito has one other person helping him out so calling Nozomu to the kitchen would not pose too much of a problem in handling the customers.

“You called?” Nozomu asks cheekily as he walks into the kitchen.

“You expected it?” Akito counters back from where he is decorating a cake. “Why did you expect it?”

Nozomu shrugs even though Akito’s not looking at him. “Gut feeling,” he says smugly before poking his finger into a small bowl of cookie batter. 

This time, Akito turns around and he does so in time to see Nozomu dipping a finger into the bowl of cookie batter. He shrieks as he makes his way over to Nozomu quickly and bats the other’s hand away. Too late. Because Nozomu is licking the cookie batter off his finger and then sucking on it clean before pulling it out of his mouth with a ‘pop’.

“Disgusting,” Akito chides and shoots a glare in Nozomu’s direction who simply laughs before going over to the tap to wash his hand. “What if I was going to bake that?”

“Nah,” Nozomu answers, full of certainty and Akito wants no more than to throw him off his high horse. “It’s too small a bowl for you to bake.”

It annoys Akito to no end when Nozomu’s correct but he lets it slide. “I was going to teach you how to bake.” 

“Oooo,” Nozomu lets out exaggeratedly as he towels his hand dry. 

“You’re going to use this batter.” Akito smirks when he sees Nozomu freeze. 

“I can stomach my own germs,” Nozomu says but he goes back to the sink and squeezes more soap onto his palms and scrubs his fingers methodically before washing them thoroughly. “You’re teaching me how to bake? Finally?”

As Akito watches Nozomu scrubbing his hands clean, he allows a chuckle to escape his lips, not bothering when the younger boy scowls at him. “Done washing your hands?” Akito mocks as Nozomu dries his hands for the second time.

“Kind of,” Nozomu replies while waving his hands at Akito. “Can we bake star shaped cookies?”

The request doesn’t surprise Akito. He smiles knowingly before pointing at the table where there are already a few different star shaped cookie cutters laid out. Nozomu beams at the them and goes over before bending down to inspect them, not wanting to touch them yet because he doesn’t want to wash his hands again.

“I’ve washed them already,” Akito notifies the younger boy, seemingly aware of his worry.

At that, Nozomu grins before picking one up and studying the shape. He picks his favourite one – three stars lined up diagonally in a curve – before handing it over to Akito and telling him he wants to use it. “It looks like a shooting star,” Nozomu explains his choice.

“So you even have a type when it comes to stars huh,” Akito jokes. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you were choosing a boyfriend.”

“Shut up,” Nozomu growls out though he doesn’t mean it. “Shooting stars are my favourite things in the whole universe okay.”

“I’m telling your mum and sister and father that,” Akito says.

“Go ahead, they already know,” Nozomu counters wittily and smirks when Akito just shakes his head. “Come on, teach me how to bake.”

Akito shakes his head as he chuckles. “Demanding brat.”

 

 

Nozomu spends the whole week gushing non-stop about seeing the annual Perseids meteor showers and he goes in the kitchen more often than not because he could not possibly have learnt how to bake properly within a day. He tells Akito that he’s aiming to be able to bake well without Akito coaching him by the side.

“Shooting stars again?” Akito asks, a small grin playing on his lips when Nozomu walks into the kitchen after he closes the shop for the day. The younger boy scowls and mutters something about not being obvious to which Akito replies with a bark of laughter and ruffling his hair when he walks past Akito to go to the sink.

“I hope you don’t burn the cookies today,” Akito starts. “Because you’ll be the one eating them today.”

At the mention of ‘burnt cookies’, Nozomu smiles in glee as memories of the previous lesson rushes back to his mind. 

His last attempt at baking had been a complete failure – the worst out of all his tries. He had been so pre-occupied with checking up the best places for viewing the meteor showers and hadn’t been paying attention to the cookies baking in the oven. When the alarm had sounded, notifying him that it was time to take the cookies out, he completely ignored it and even went as far as to stop it because it was distracting his reading. 

Only when Akito had come in to ask him about the cookies did he finally realise that they were still baking. He had squeaked in a rather undignified manner before rushing over to the oven and opening the oven’s door. In the spite of his hurry, he had forgotten to wear mittens and almost burnt himself if not for Akito stopping him in time from touching the hot metal tray. 

The cookies, as expected, turned out disastrous and Akito had been really angry. But one look at Nozomu’s guilt-stricken expression softened his heart and he waved it off in the end, telling him to pay more attention next time. When Nozomu promised that there wouldn’t be a next time, Akito could only sigh despondently at the tray of burnt cookies on the cooling rack.

They had spent awhile talking until the cookies were ready to be eaten, but in this case, to be checked by Akito. The older of the two said that the cookies had not looked that bad and were probably still edible. Being a patisserie, he claimed that it was beyond him to throw away a tray of edible cookies no matter how bad. 

At that moment in time, Nozomu groaned, complaining how he would be the one eating them in the end because he was the one who created them. And when he finally registered Akito’s claim about _what a waste to throw away edible cookies_ , he rolled his eyes and protested that Akito _always_ threw away batches of cookies he didn’t like. Akito had feigned pretence and stared at Nozomu with wide eyes as he asked _do I?_

Before Nozomu could grumble even more, Akito had gone back to the tray of cookies to survey the damage which had been done. Nozomu tensed up when Akito had taken the first bite. _Not that bad_ , the older boy had said before he continued, _by your standard_. Nozomu hadn’t been sure if that had been a compliment or insult but he had chosen to believe in the former. It would have made him feel better about the disaster he had created. 

When Akito had beckoned Nozomu over, the younger boy scrunched up his face in distaste but he had gone over anyway. Without any warning, Akito shoved a piece of cookie into Nozomu’s mouth which caused him to choke a little. A glare from Akito told him that he had to finish eating the whole thing. 

As Nozomu chewed helplessly, he stared at Akito with pitiful eyes and Akito almost gave in but no, Akito was more resilient and firm than that. 

After Nozomu was done, he had stuck out his tongue and made a disgusted face. _Your product_ was the only thing Akito had said. When the older boy pushed the whole tray of cookies in Nozomu’s direction, the other backed away.

“They’re obviously inedible!” Nozomu whined. “You’re just punishing me!”

Upon hearing that, Akito had raised a brow in amusement. “Punishing you? No. But it’s _your_ product you know.” 

If they had been texting right now, the only expression Nozomu could think of to fit Akito’s face had been the “=.=” face. He sniggered at the thought of it causing Akito to squint his eyes at him as if asking him what he was sniggering about. There wasn’t a question thrown at him but Nozomu shook his head anyway to which Akito had frowned. 

Akito opened his mouth, wanting to say something. But at the exact same time, an evil thought had struck Nozomu’s mind so he raised his hand to stop the older boy stop. “Rock, paper, scissors. Loser eats them all.”

“What? Don’t be stupid. No,” Akito had replied with a very deep frown on his face. 

“You taught me this,” Nozomu countered, tone firm and resolute as he took a step closer to Akito. “Rock, paper, scissors,” he continued through gritted teeth.

Probably a few minutes had passed before Akito sighed and gave in reluctantly, muttering how this would be the _only_ time he was going to give in. They both knew it was a lie though because Akito had said that phrase countless times already only to give in to Nozomu again and again.

Luck was on Nozomu’s side that day as he had won three rounds straight, resulting in Akito begrudgingly packing the cookies and bringing them home. 

“Stop smiling, you look stupid,” Akito bites out because he knows exactly what is going on in Nozomu’s mind. “You brat.”

“I get that enough,” Nozomu answers easily as his smile widens.

“So, shooting stars again? Or just normal stars this time?” Akito gets down to business instead of bantering with Nozomu. It is entertaining to the younger boy but it is tiring to him. Extremely tiring.

Nozomu grumbles something incoherent before deciding to speak properly. “You know.”

With a knowing smirk playing on his lips, Akito fishes out the shooting star shaped cookie cutter from his stash of cookie cutters. 

“You know,” Akito starts. “We can bake more today,” he continues as he takes out a few other designs – all of which are stars but in different patterns. “We can make your Milky Way today.”

“ _My_ Milky Way,” Nozomu echoes and laughs when Akito snorts.

The cookies don’t turn out disastrous. In fact, they turn out quite the opposite. Akito concludes their mini baking session with announcing in a rather dramatic fashion that Nozomu is qualified to bake without his assistance. 

Upon hearing Akito’s words, Nozomu fist pumps into the air before pulling the older boy into a bone-crushing hug.

“Calm down, kid,” Akito says in between laughs. “You’ve done well.”

Nozomu lets Akito go with a stupid wide smile on his face. He then proceeds to take a bite of his product and sighs when he tastes the melted chocolate chip on the tip of his tongue. The chewy texture of the cookie tells him that he has really succeeded. 

As he chews on another cookie, he thinks about the night sky full of dazzling wonders and sparkling dreams. Sounds nice.

 

 

When Nozomu doesn’t think about the Perseids meteor shower, time flies quicker. And in the blink of an eye, he reaches the 11th of August, one day before the start of his all time favourite show. 

“Please get some sleep tonight,” his mother tells him over dinner. 

“I will,” Nozomu mutters as he shifts in his seat. He knows what is going to come next because he gets the same treatment every year.

“You say that every year,” his sister starts with a frown gracing her face and Nozomu frowns back. 

“But you don’t keep to your promise,” his father completes the sentence and stares at his son with a bemused expression when Nozomu scoffs then sniffs almost immediately.

Nozomu holds his mother’s hands and looks into her eyes, mustering his most sincere gaze ever (if he even has one). “Don’t worry about me mum. I’ll sleep. I promise.”

But his mother only gives him a patronising look. “I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about the rest of us. You don’t sleep a wink when the sky’s dark, when you’re supposed to but you sleep as soon as the sun rises then wake up in the evening screaming about how you don’t have enough time to go to your place and set up the equipment.” She stops but Nozomu knows she isn’t done. “My dear son,” she says and Nozomu winces. “We don’t want to go through that again so please get some sleep tonight.”

“Okay!” Nozomu says quickly before his sister or father can say another word. “I’ll go up and try to sleep now. Thanks for dinner, mum. Love you and sis and dad too.” He starts retreating when his sister sends him a cold stare. “Like, really.” The back of his feet hits the bottom steps so he starts walking up the stairs backwards. “I promise.”

When his father opens his mouth, Nozomu turns on his heels and makes a dash for his room yelling _I’ll sleep_ in the process. 

As soon as he reaches his room, he locks the door although he knows that no one would be coming up to bother him. He glances at the clock. _9.47pm_. It is way too early for his sleeping time though he could try now since it would probably take him forever to fall asleep.

He plans out how this short but important night would go in his mind and starts by brushing his teeth. Walking around the room with his toothbrush in his mouth, he thinks about the next night and where he would be – on a patch of grass, on a mountain top with his telescope and camera and handphone while watching hundreds of bright streaks paint the night sky.

The more he walks around, the calmer he gets and he figures that he should just move around a lot before trying to catch some sleep because one, it calms his nerves and two, it would probably tire him out. 

It turns out to be more difficult than he expects it too. With the amount of moving and fidgeting around, Nozomu expects himself to be at least a bit tired but he isn’t and he isn’t feeling any calmer either.

So he strips and steps into the bathroom to take a quick hot shower. Hopefully that would help him. After he’s done, he puts on his most comfortable pair of sweatpants and stays shirtless. A brilliant idea surfaces in his mind when he’s taking out extra pillows from his cupboard. 

Nozomu drops two extra pillows onto his bed before leaving his room to go to his sister’s. Two knocks and his sister opens the door. She disregards his shirtless state entirely as she folds her arms across her chest. “And what can I do for you, mister?”

“Aroma candles,” Nozomu states simply.

A few moments of silence engulfs them as they stare at each, unmoving and unblinking. His sister is the first to break the silence when she explodes in laughter. Tears start to form at the side of her eyes from laughing too much in mirth.

Before Nozomu can say anything, she pinches his cheeks. “You are so cute,” his sister says as he switches between pinching his cheeks and squishing them to torture her brother more. “And I thought you came to me shirtless to show off your muscles and tell me you’re a man now or something but you come to me and say such cute things.”

Feeling indignant, Nozomu opens his mouth but his sister pecks him on the forehead so he shuts his mouth instantly and settles for a scowl instead.

“Give me a moment,” she says once she decides not to abuse Nozomu’s cheeks anymore. “Any particular scents you want?”

“Anything that helps me sleep?” Nozomu answers as he steps into his sister’s bedroom. 

“Of course.” Her mocking tone makes Nozomu pout but he changes it to a cool expression when she turns around to face him.

“I can feel you pout from kilometres away, Nozomu. No need to hide.” She pats his arm when she walks past him because she can’t pat his head anymore.

He thinks she’s dragging this out on purpose just to spend more time with him and he’s proven right when he sees the correct bottle in her hand but she puts it back in the rack, pretending that she hasn’t found it yet. So he decides to indulge her and also because he wants to spend time with her too. He sits on her bed and starts talking to her about mindless things.

After awhile longer, she passes him three candles which he accepts gratefully. “Sleep well, Nozomu,” she says and then presses a kiss to his forehead.

When he sees her lonely expression, he sits on the bed awhile longer to talk to her and only leaves when she pushes him out of the room, claiming that she needs her beauty sleep and that he needs his beastly sleep. Nozomu laughs at the Beauty and the Best reference made as he is being pushed out and comments that they should watch it again together soon.

The first thing he does when he walks back to the room is to check the time on his digital clock. _11.12 pm_. He thinks he can try falling asleep now. So he lights up the candles, settles in his bed to snuggle under his comforter and fort of soft, fluffy pillows.

It must have been a miracle but it doesn’t take long before he feels himself lulling to sleep. His eyes start feeling heavy and his eyelids start feeling droopy so he closes his eyes and, in no time, drifts into a deep slumber with nothing on his mind except the image of a glowing object amidst pure blackness.

 

 

Nozomu awakes the next day feeling more refreshed than ever. He ignores the loud thumping organ in his chest and the jittery feeling he feels from his neck all the way down to his toes. It is _the day_. 

When he glances at the clock, he expects it to be five or six pm but it isn’t. It’s only half past nine and he has never felt so good about himself. He gives himself fifteen more minutes to laze in bed and pushes himself up when the clock shows _9.45 am_.

His daily routine feels a little special today because the first thing he does once he’s done washing up isn’t to call Akito to inform the older boy that he is going to be late. Instead, he takes out the best telescope he has and starts assembling the parts. 

He doesn’t actually need a telescope to view the Perseids because there would be plenty of them in the sky and they are big enough. But as an Astronomy major, he knows where the constellation Perseus is – which is also where the Perseids originate from – so he wants to see the first shooting star appear because he _knows_ where it would appear.

This might sound a little maniacal but Nozomu just thinks he’s very passionate. _Setting up your best telescope just to see the first one appear and then not using it anymore? That’s stupid and you’re nuts!_ Kamiyama and Sho would say and frankly speaking, Nozomu might even agree with them.

The process of fixing up his telescope is long and tedious but he likes doing it and he does it slowly, carefully and methodically, not wanting anything to go wrong. 

He takes longer than expected but that’s okay because he still has time. Today isn’t like the previous years when he had always woken up late and had to rush everything. Today, he is on time. _More than on time,_ Nozomu notes with glee. It is going to be noon soon but the meteors only start appearing a little after midnight so he is in no rush.

While running through what he could do to pass his time, he busies himself with packing his backpack for his little journey tonight. He checks his bag repeatedly to ensure that he hasn’t missed anything out – torchlight, handphone, jacket and the telescope which he would be carrying on his hand. _Snacks_ , his mind reminds him thoughtfully when his stomach starts grumbling. He then realises that he hasn’t eaten anything yet.

With one last check through his backpack, he leaves his room to look for food in the kitchen. As expected, his family members have already left for work so he could only pray that there are leftovers in the fridge because he certainly does not want to cook (not that he can even if wants to). 

After rummaging through a few cupboards and the fridge, he finds leftover rice and a can of baked beans. Though he would like to have a more fulfilling lunch, beggars couldn’t be choosers right? So he settles with what he has found and starts digging in. Anything to satisfy his hunger.

When he’s done eating within a few minutes, he regrets how he had practically inhaled the plate because now he is left clueless about what to do again. His saving grace comes in the form of a text message by Sho when he goes back to his room to retrieve his phone. 

_Movie?_ The message reads. Nozomu grins as he types out a quick reply, _okay._ Within seconds, the time and venue for the movie come in the next message and Nozomu scoffs because Sho was so sure that he is going to agree to watching the movie. 

Before leaving the house, Nozomu leaves a note on the fridge door – _I won’t be home for dinner. I’ll be out with Sho and Kami-chan. Someone please send me to my viewing spot later on. Love you guys._

 

 

Sho’s a sobbing mess when the group of three walks out of the cinema. Kamiyama laughs as he tries to comfort Sho and Nozomu laughs because he thinks Sho is a cry baby (not that he isn’t but he doesn’t cry over sappy romantic films). 

“You chose the movie,” Nozomu kindly points out when Sho doesn’t stop crying even after they are in a restaurant. “Stop crying, you’re making it look like we’re bullying you.” Nozomu frowns when he sees an old lady pointing at him.

It honestly isn’t his fault that he looks older than he actually is, automatically making people assume that he is the senpai among his group of friends so he is always the one getting scolded when they get into trouble with some grumpy elderly. Although Kamiyama is the oldest among the three of them, his baby face and innocent aura save him from all the trouble.

When Nozomu glares at the old lady, she merely shakes her head and says something like _young boys these days_ before turning her attention back to her food.

Kamiyama laughs, louder than necessary in Nozomu’s opinion, when the older boy notices the exchange between Nozomu and the old lady. Apparently, Sho has noticed it too because he stops crying and chooses to half laugh half hiccup in between broken sobs instead. Nozomu ignores them and buries his face in the menu until a waitress goes over (at Kamiyama’s call) to their table and sniggers when she sees Nozomu covering his face with the menu. 

Kamiyama taps him on the hand lightly to ask him for his order. When Nozomu sets the menu down onto the table, he finds the waitress looking at him while trying to stifle a laugh. He glances over to Kamiyama and Sho who both have ridiculous grins on their faces. Nozomu promises himself that he’ll stop being friends with them one day before giving his order.

Over dinner, Sho recounts Nozomu’s dream about a shooting star falling into his room to Kamiyama in the most exaggerated way Nozomu has ever seen while adding in his own (dumb and untrue) anecdotes along the way. Halfway through the narrative (or made up story), Nozomu stops correcting Sho because Kamiyama waves off everything he tries to say.

“Nozomu would totally date a shooting star if he could,” Kamiyama says at the end of Sho’s story telling. “And then marry it.”

“I know right!” Sho exclaims, sounding far too amused for Nozomu’s liking. “Can you imagine him dating a shooting star?”

A gasp comes from Kamiyama and Nozomu rolls his eyes and stabs his chicken as he imagines it being his two friends. 

“Can _you_ imagine it?” Kamiyama asks back and this time, Sho’s the one gasping.

“Can _I?_

Sho actually sounds genuinely surprise and Nozomu gives him credit for being such a drama queen, though it is expected since the other is a Theatre major. 

“Nozomu,” Sho starts, the look of surprise still on his face. “Can _you_ imagine it?”

If his friends are going to be annoying, Nozomu decides that he can play along. “I can!” He cries out enthusiastically, sending Kamiyama and Sho into fits of laughter. If they weren’t seating down, the two would have probably rolling on the floor or keeling over with laughter. Nozomu is not amused.

“Did you hear that, Kami-chan?” Sho asks, sounding a little breathless from all the laughing and tears start to form in his eyes.

“He’s so stupid, Sho, someone needs to save him,” Kamiyama replies in between his own series of laughter.

Nozomu makes a face at them before going back to stabbing his chicken. One day.

 

 

It is half past eight when Nozomu reaches home and his family members are all lounging on the couch watching some romcom drama together.

“I’m home,” Nozomu calls out. 

Scattered responses of _welcome home_ come from his family members as he slides onto the couch next to his sister, ignoring her protest and her attempts of shoving him off.

“So who’s going to send me?”

An exaggerated gasp leaves his sister’s lips and Nozomu is reminded of the dinner he just had with Kamiyama and Sho. 

“I know you all saw the note on the fridge, stop faking.” Nozomu whacks his sister’s thigh and ducks when his sister’s hand flies up to whack him on the head.

“I’ll send you,” his father says from the floor, not even bothering to turn around to see his two children bicker. It is a common occurrence in the Kotaki household.

They only leave an hour later when the drama on the television finishes airing. Nozomu’s father fusses over him and he tells his father that he would be fine and that he is an adult already.

“Don’t forget your keys,” Nozomu’s mother reminds him as he’s leaving the house after his father. “No one will be awake to open the door for you when you get back.”

“Got them,” Nozomu reassures her and holds the key ring with his thumb and index to dangle it in front of his mother. “I would go to Sho’s or Kami-chan’s house if I forgot the keys anyway. Don’t worry so much. I do this every year.”

Still, his mother sends him a worried glance and hugs him tightly before he leaves. His sister pulls him into a hug and ruffles his hair too before pushing him out of the house and telling him to enjoy and blah blah blah.

 

 

As the car nears Nozomu’s destination, his heart starts thumping quicker and he feels the adrenaline rushing through his veins. When he spots the foot of the mountain, he nearly jumps out of his seat. 

The car starts moving up the mountain track and he lets out a delighted squeal. A hand smacks his thigh when he actually _jumps_ in his seat, causing him to wince. He throws his father a pitiful look but his father stays quiet though there is a smile lingering on his face. 

When the car finally reaches the top, Nozomu opens the door even before the car fully stops, earning himself a small lecture when his father eventually gets out of the car as well. 

“Enjoy yourself,” his father says as he starts getting back into the driver’s seat.

“Oh, you know I will,” Nozomu replies cheekily while tightening his grip on the telescope in his hand. “I will.”

And with that, his father drives off, leaving him alone on the mountain top in the cool summer night. Every now and then, a breeze blows past him, sending shivers tingling down his spine and all the way to his toes.

The place is as empty as always. Nozomu found this observation spot two years ago when he, Kamiyama and Sho had been exploring mountains together. He always finds it a wonder that no one else has found the place yet.

But then again, the mountain top is a relatively huge area. Maybe there are other star gazers around and just not anywhere near him. 

Nozomu goes over to his usual spot and doesn’t bother setting up the picnic mat which his mother had forced him to bring. The grass is comfortable enough. Wasting no time at all, he starts setting up his telescope and settles down on the grass when he’s done.

He lies down with his hands behind his head as he does normal star gazing for a while. He checks his watch for the time and hums happily when he realises that there is still ten minutes to midnight. Based on experience and numerous researches, the Perseids meteor showers will only start becoming visible near 1 or 2 am. He hopes that it is the latter this year. 

While waiting, he stretches lazily as he closes his eyes to picture the scene he would be seeing soon. It would be utterly breathtaking as hundreds of sparkling stars light up the sky when they streak across it, painting the blanket of black a shimmering white.

To pass time, he alternates between listening to songs on his iPod and singing or humming some songs, allowing his voice to be carried away by the wind and off into the night. Maybe the wind would even carry his voice all the way to the shooting stars. There are other people around, Nozomu thinks when he hears a distant laugh. Still, it doesn’t stop him from singing about love and shooting stars.

Nozomu feels the meteors coming before he actually sees them. As he stares unblinkingly at the night sky, while awaiting the first shooting star to appear, his clenches his fist and tilts his head upwards at an extraordinary angle. His heart is thrumming with anticipation.

His grip on the telescope tightens as he focuses on where the constellation Perseus is, near the famous Double Cluster.

When the first shooting star flies past night sky, Nozomu lets out an involuntary gasp. Then another flies past, and another, and another and Nozomu abandons his telescope completely. They keep appearing until tens of them start tearing through the night sky one after another, setting the dull night aglow with streaks of dazzling white.

It is instinctive for Nozomu to hold his breath as he watches the celestial fireworks streaking the night sky with lines of radiant white glows. If he imagines it, he can hear the shooting stars making high pitched noises like the shooting stars sound recordings he had heard on YouTube.

For the next hour or so, he stays rooted to the same spot and only remembers to breathe when he starts feeling breathless. 

The shooting stars seem to be lining up as each bright sparkling streak takes its turn to light up the night sky. By now, they are zooming through the expanse of the pure black sheet from every direction and Nozomu has to stay calm and focus in order not to break his neck from chasing the shooting stars with his eyes.

They illuminate not only the night sky, but also the dark forests in the surrounding area. Subsequently the light vanishes into nothing, snuffing out soundlessly like a candle before more shooting stars come into sight.

It’s not possible to count the number of shooting stars which appear within the hour but with how bright the sky is, Nozomu concludes that about a hundred of them have just appeared. Silver streaks paint the night sky from every direction. Nozomu sees the tracks of celestial glow the shooting stars leave behind before fading away in the blink of an eye.

Hundreds of shooting stars illuminate the dark cold night and Nozomu watches (almost) every one of them from their beginning to end. _The lifespan of shooting stars are too short_ , Nozomu likes telling everyone before countering himself by saying, _but that’s the beauty which lies in them. Fleeting and ethereal._

Somehow, when there are striking white lights setting the night sky aglow, the night doesn’t seem to feel so cold and lonely anymore. And Nozomu loses track of time because the sky looks brighter than any night ever and he isn’t really sure if day is nearing yet.

 _It’s not enough_ , Nozomu thinks as he watches yet another shooting star disappear into nothingness while more start appearing, leaving trails of white sparkles in their wake. He thinks his thirst to see shooting stars can never be sated. 

These thoughts are confirmed when less shooting stars start appearing each hour and he starts growing incredibly sad. But Nozomu relaxes a little when he remembers that he has promised to take some photos for his family and friends. So he takes out his DSLR, setting a very high shutter speed in order to catch the shooting stars. 

After a few more hours, the shooting stars start decreasing significantly and Nozomu takes that time to relive the past few hours by looking through the photos he had taken with the DSLR.

The first thing that comes to his mind upon seeing the pictures are – _the camera doesn’t do the shooting stars justice_. Of course, they look beautiful in the pictures but Nozomu thinks seeing them live is another irreplaceable experience entirely. Seeing the shooting stars live is something unexplainable and precious to Nozomu. If he could, he would look out for them every day but nature doesn’t allow that and only gives him time periods within a year to look out for them.

At least he gets to see them so he shouldn’t be complaining so much. 

As another shooting star fleets across the night sky, dancing ever so elegantly before disappearing gracefully, Nozomu thinks he can look at them forever.

He doesn’t take note of the time the Perseids end and he leaves the place. But he does check the time as soon as he’s in a cab. 

_6.26 am_. Nozomu grins at his phone and notes that he has been awake for nearly twenty four hours. Oh the things he would do for his dear shooting stars. 

 

 

Nozomu reaches home around 7 am and walks through the front door at exactly 7.16 am. He barely registers his family having breakfast until his sister calls his name. He throws them a lazy smile before dumping his things onto the couch and then trudging up the stairs to his bedroom.

Without bothering to change his clothes, he collapses onto his bed and snuggles his pillow. He doesn’t remember feeling so tired when he was watching the shooting stars. 

Oh well.

 

 

The next day is an exact repeat of the previous day with only one difference – the person who sends Nozomu to his star gazing spot is his mother this time. He remembers going home earlier the second day because he had been really tired. The rest of the time goes by in a hazy blur.

When Nozomu wakes up on the 14th of August – the last day the Perseid meteor showers are going to peak – it is near 6 pm. 

As soon as he opens his eyes blearily, he hears his sister calling him from outside his room. He doesn’t hear her the first time as he stifles a yawn and stretches lazily. 

“Nozomu!” His sister shouts from outside and bangs on his door a few times. Nozomu swears he can hear her kicking the door.

“What?” Nozomu snaps groggily while rubbing his eyes. _Too early to be awake_ , his inebriated mind tells him and he nods in agreement as if he is having a conversation with someone else and not himself.

“You’re awake?” There is a tone of surprise in his sister’s voice and he frowns. “When do you want to leave?”

Why is his sister asking him this question _so early_? Nozomu continues rubbing his eyes and ignores his sister’s question until she bangs (or punches) the door again. “It’s still early.”

“But you take two hours to get dressed and all that,” she replies instantaneously and Nozomu starts feeling indignant. 

“I do not. I – ”

“Yes, you do,” his sister cuts him off before he can continue his sentence. “I’m sleeping over at a friend’s house tonight so I don’t want to go too late.”

“Can’t mum or dad send me instead?” Nozomu whines as he kicks his blanket off and proceeds to stand on shaky legs.

Nozomu hears an exasperated sigh from his sister and muses about how his door isn’t so thick after all. “It’s their date night remember?”

 _Oh, right_ , Nozomu thinks as he smiles dryly, thinking about how he is still single and doesn’t have date nights with anyone but Kamiyama and Sho. Pathetic. “Can you not go over to your friend’s house?”

“Don’t be a brat. We’re having early dinner, take-out by the way, and we’re leaving by nine so get up and out _now_ ,” his sister says, tone final and then Nozomu knows she’s walking away by the sound of her footsteps.

It is at times like these that Nozomu remembers that his sister is seven years older than him and is therefore deadly, scary and threatening to him when she wants to be. He brushes his teeth, showers and changes his clothes in record time. Then he’s out of his room in no time, rushing down the stairs as he tries to gel his hair.

“You’re going to see stars,” his sister deadpans when she sees him looking at a mirror with a comb in between his lips and his hands gelling up a stray strand of hair sticking out. “Not your date.”

“They’re as good as my date,” Nozomu says when he takes the comb from his mouth to style his hair properly. “It’s the last day. I want to look nice okay?”

“For who?!” His sister shrieks. “The stars?!”

Nozomu shrugs as he continues styling his hair in the mirror. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Ridiculous,” his sister says but she’s shaking her head fondly with a small smile on her lips and Nozomu can see all these in the mirror so he gives her a stupid grin and a thumbs up. He knows she can see him because she rolls her eyes and goes into the kitchen. 

 

 

They eat dinner in a rush because they ended up watching a television program while eating and completely forgot about doing the latter halfway through the show. 

As always, it’s Nozomu’s fault, or so his sister claims. 

“Why didn’t you tell us to eat?!” His sister chides as they make their way to the car parked in the garage. “It’s almost nine thirty!”

“Why didn’t _you_ say anything?” Nozomu asks through a mouthful of rice, clearly displeased but he shuts up and looks away when his sisters turns around to glare at him.

The tension between them fades as quickly as it starts. Within seconds of the car ride, Nozomu’s sister is fussing over him, asking him if he brought a jacket because _summer nights can be cold you know?_

He reassures her for the nth time that he has brought everything he needs and that she doesn’t need to worry because he has been doing this for the past two days and also every year. He turns on the radio to stop her from worrying over him and they both burst out into laughter because ‘Meteor Shower’ by Owl City is playing on the radio.

“How fitting,” his sister comments as she grins widely. “Meteor Shower.”

Nozomu ignores her but smiles anyway as he starts humming along to the music. He slides further down into the seat because his sister is driving the car with a lower ceiling and the ride would be very uncomfortable for him if he sits up like he usually does. Blame his height.

 

 

His sister doesn’t bother getting down the car to hug him or to tell him goodbye but she scrolls down her window and tells him to come over. She tells him to bend down so that he is face to face with her.

To be honest, he knows what to expect. In the next moment, she’s squishing his cheeks, telling him to be a good boy, to go home earlier, to be careful and that she loves him. Typical. She ends her shower of affection by planting kisses on his cheek and cuddling him nose to nose.

“Oh, by the way,” his sister starts as he straightens his back, looking a little ruffled from his sister’s show of affection. “I hope one of the shooting stars fall into your room tonight or wherever you can find it you know.”

For awhile, he doesn’t understand what she’s even saying because _what the hell?_. He stares at her with a quizzical look and furrowed brows while she smiles at him, looking thoroughly amused and Nozomu doesn’t like that expression one single bit. He then realises what she’s talking about. He realises what Sho has done.

“Sho,” Nozomu hisses through gritted teeth. “That guy. He – ”

“Did a very good job in telling me about your cute little dream,” his sister coos. “You should tell me about dreams like that.”

“To be laughed at by you?!” Nozomu asks hysterically. “No way!”

“Your friends end up telling me everything anyway so why not save the trouble?” She shrugs at the end of the sentence and gives him a mocking smile. “Unless there’s more to what Sho has told me.” Her eyes glisten with mischief and Nozomu thinks he likes this expression less than her amused one.

“He probably told you more than necessary.” Nozomu scoffs as he recollects Sho’s version of his dream in his mind. 

When his sister’s mouth makes the ‘O’ shape, he furrows his brows. 

“What?” Nozomu asks wearily before he understands what his sister is thinking about. “He told you more than necessary because most of the things he says are lies! He twists my story and retells a parody version of his own!”

“Okay, okay, Nozomu. Sure. Anything you say.” The patronising tone in his sister’s voice doesn’t go unheard, causing him to pout at her. “I got to go know,” she starts again after glancing at the clock in the car. “Have fun, Nozomu. Bye. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Nozomu mutters. “Bye.”

With one last smile, his sister makes a reverse before driving off, leaving Nozomu alone in the open area.

 _It’s not as cold as the first day_ , Nozomu notes with delight as he shrugs off his brown leather jacket, folding it and then tucking it into his backpack before settling down at his usual spot. He’ll take his jacket out again when it gets colder. _If_ it gets colder. Honestly, Nozomu isn’t very fond of wearing jackets, especially in summer because he feels stuffy in them and the mentality he has that summer would make wearing jackets even stuffier than on a normal basis doesn’t help.

As soon as he dumps his bag next to him, he leans backwards until his head is touching the soft patch of grass. His back hits the lush surface with a small thump and in the next second, he’s tugging a few strands of grass for no particular reason.

He closes his eyes and starts humming a soft tune to lull himself to sleep. The past few days have really taken a toll on his body and frankly speaking, he needs the rest. It’s not as if he would miss the Perseids meteor showers later on because he would know when to wake up.

When Nozomu starts to drift to sleep, his heart tells him _one more hour_ and he hums in approval, knowing that he would be able to get a good rest. 

An hour passes sooner than he expects and again, he feels it before he sees it, except this time, he doesn’t have his telescope with him because he knows where to look. He opens his eye and doesn’t bother sitting up.

The first shooting star appears, simply painting a simple line across the night sky and leaving glittering dust in its wake and Nozomu makes a wish.

 

 

Truth to be told, he still doesn’t know when the Perseids would stop appearing entirely so he usually leaves around 5.30 am when they stop appearing so often. But today, he stays past 5.30 am and remains lying on his back while grinning lazily at the sky.

What happens next occurs too quickly for Nozomu to fully comprehend. All he sees for a while is a bright blinding light and he doesn’t know what it is or what to do exactly, but he does the first thing his instinct tells him to do – make a wish. So he makes a wish and when he opens his eyes, he recognises that the source of the bright blinding light is a shooting star and it is _wavering_ in the sky.

Nozomu doesn’t pride himself for having good eyesight but he swears that he can see that particular shooting star _wavering_ and moving at a slower speed as compared to normal shooting stars because Nozomu can actually _see_ it. It’s not moving in a straight line and it’s moving far too slowly – as if it is not a shooting star but a spaceship – but Nozomu is certain that it is a shooting star.

 _Meteorite_ , his brain supplies helpfully when he finally snaps out of his stupor. It isn’t exactly a rare or strange occurrence for a shooting star to fall and turn into a meteorite but this is the first time Nozomu’s seeing it happen. Though he’s not entirely sure what’s happening either because from what he has learnt, when shooting stars turn into meteorites, it happens quickly. The bundle of light will fall rapidly, too fast for anyone to see clearly before hitting the earth’s surface and turning into a hard rock, a meteorite, before cooling down by letting off steam.

But _this_ thing Nozomu is looking at now is definitely a shooting star but he can _see_ it falling – slowly even – and it’s scaring the wits out of him because this isn’t normal. 

“Holy shit,” Nozomu mumbles when the falling star starts to lose its glow and he swears he can see a _human_. “No way in hell,” he breathes out and then starts rubbing his eye furiously.

He must be really tired or his eyes must have been playing tricks on him because that can’t be a human falling from the sky and said ‘human’ was apparently a shooting star a few seconds ago. 

When he opens his eyes again, the sky is clear and the sun is rising but he sees no sign of the falling star. He stares into the horizon as the sun starts emerging from behind the other mountains. As the sky turns into an orangey shade, Nozomu starts thinking about where the meteorite would be (because he is sure about the shooting star falling).

The sound of his phone ringing snaps him out of his thoughts. 

“Hello, this is Nozomu,” he says into the phone but his heart isn’t really into it. 

“Are you coming home yet?” His mother asks, sounding worried. “It’s already 7 am.”

It is the first time Nozomu looks at his watch in near ten hours and he gasps when he sees the time. “I’m coming home soon, mum. Like, erm,” he looks at the sky, thoughts straying back to the falling star as his mind replays the scene over and over again. “I’m leaving the place soon so you guys can go off first.”

“You haven’t left?” It is his sister’s voice this time and Nozomu rolls his eyes, figuring that he must have been put on loudspeaker. 

“Not yet but I’m leaving now,” Nozomu lies. “Hey, I got to pack my stuff now. Don’t worry so much. I’ll be home by the time you guys are back too, yeah?”

They make a few more exchanges before Nozomu says _bye_ and ends the call. 

He doesn’t start packing like he said he would. Instead, he walks over to the edge of the mountain before peering down. _Nope, no burning rock_ , he thinks and then starts backing away quickly because he is actually afraid of accidentally tripping over a pebble or bump on the floor and flying off the cliff.

“Did you see that?”

Nozomu whips his head behind when he hears another voice. He spots two middle-aged men, one slightly taller than the other, walking away from the area. _So there are other people around_ , Nozomu muses before focusing his attention back onto their conversation because they are definitely talking about that falling star.

“It was a shooting star falling right?” One of the two men says as the other nods enthusiastically in agreement.

“I saw it too,” Nozomu shouts from where he is, drawing the attention of the two strangers before he slow jogs over to stand in front of them. “The falling shooting star.”

They look fairly surprise and the first thing they say to Nozomu is _how old are you?_

“I just turned twenty one last month,” Nozomu answers proudly with a grin. 

His answer surprises the two men and he knows it because they now have an astonished expression on their faces.

“You’re really young,” one of them comments and Nozomu just nods in agreement. “I wouldn’t expect to see someone your age here.”

“Just my interest,” Nozomu says happily. “Going back to the topic of the falling star, it _was_ a falling shooting star right?”

“Yes,” one of the strangers replies as the other hums in agreement. “But don’t you think it was a little…”

“Strange?” Nozomu fills in kindly and then the two strangers are nodding profusely. “I think so too. Because I could actually _see_ it so clearly. It was like, it was like you know.” Nozomu starts gesturing with his hands because he is at a loss for words.

“Someone falling?” The shorter of the two quips in and Nozomu snaps his finger.

“Exactly!” Nozomu exclaims. “You think so too? Great, because I thought I was going mad. Because you know, I could actually _see_ a shooting star falling and that’s totally not normal. I swear.” 

Both men start laughing at Nozomu’s outburst, causing the younger boy to flush in embarrassment.

“Guess this is something we’ll see on the news then,” the taller one says jokingly before patting Nozomu on the back. “Hope you had fun seeing the showers. Goodbye.”

The shorter one gives Nozomu a warm smile before patting him on the back as well. “See you around, young boy?” He laughs when Nozomu gives him a thumbs up.

And with that, the two men start to walk away again.

“Bye,” Nozomu calls out and waves.

His phone rings then so he pulls it out of his pocket and checks it. It is a message from his father. _Nozomu, are you even leaving yet?!_. Oh, his father knows him way too well. However, Nozomu only starts packing after the second message comes in. 

_Pack now or die._

In all honesty, Nozomu loves his sister but she isn’t the nicest person around. Once he’s done packing and is about to leave, his mind drifts back to the scene of the shooting star falling again and he can’t help but wander around the place a little longer. 

When he hears his phone ringing again, he spares one last look at the sky and lingers awhile longer before leaving. He walks down the mountain path as he hums along to the tune of Owl City’s ‘Shooting Star’.

 

 

It is almost 9 am when Nozomu reaches home and the first thing he does is to dump his bag onto the couch (as always) before making his way to his room.

He strips immediately upon entering his room and turns on the fan to cool himself down. Then he goes into his bathroom to start up the bath because he has plans of having an extremely long bath. He really needs it. Going out into the ‘wild’ for three nights straight isn’t exactly the most hygienic thing to do, especially during summer. Also, his back is starting to feel sore and he swears that there are mosquito bites somewhere on his arms and legs. Hot water would be able to ease the aches a little and perhaps kill the germs and bacteria all over him.

 _Damn_ , Nozomu thinks as the image of his jacket surfaces in his mind. Maybe he should have worn the jacket, albeit stuffy, to prevent all these insect bites from happening. Now they are going to itch. He groans at the thought of that.

He walks over to his cupboard and pulls out a fresh set of clothes before throwing them onto his bed before taking his towel out and going back to the bathroom.

Nozomu doesn’t notice that his window is broken.

And he certainly doesn’t notice an extra presence in his bedroom, lying on the floor at the foot of his bed, wrapped snugly in his comforters.

 

 

When Nozomu is done with his bath, he wraps his towel around his waist after drying his hair. Obviously he plans on getting dressed but when he walks out of the bathroom, the clothes he had thrown onto his bed earlier on are missing and he realises that his window is broken.

All Nozomu wants to do at that moment is to scream but no, his neighbours would probably be able to hear him with his loud, megaphone-like voice. So he takes in a deep breath and calms down and sieves through some reasons as to why his window is broken and why his clothes are missing.

The first thing that comes to his mind is Ghosts but he mentally smacks himself when he realises how stupid and ridiculous that sounds. Besides, it is too early in the day for ghosts to be roaming around right?

He sits down near the headboard on his bed as he continues thinking about the multiple possibilities. Could someone have broken his window to get into his room to steal his clothes? That sounds bizarre and silly but it is the best Nozomu can come up with as he tries to link both things together. 

Actually, he sees no link between them and he simply cannot connect the dots between them (if there is even any in the first place).

Something catches his attention when he looks to his right. That something is _moving_ and Nozomu wants to cry and shriek and flail but he swallows instead and approaches it with caution. Moving slowly, half a step at a time, Nozomu can feel his heart pounding rapidly against his chest.

What if it is snake?

At the thought of it being a snake, he stops moving all at once and he feels his blood freezing. But he has to approach it because it is in _his_ room. Snake or not, he has to do this. He nods firmly before tightening the towel around his waist.

Not bothering about his hair still dripping with water, he flops onto his bed and starts crawling towards the bundle on the floor slowly.

When he reaches the end of his bed, he peaks over the edge carefully. What greets his sight are his clothes and he groans before slowly reaching out his hand and grabbing them. As soon as his clothes are in his hands, he throws them back, sending them flying haphazardly and he doesn’t even know where they land.

Then, Nozomu realises that his comforter is _also_ on the floor and draped over _a lump_. He feels a lump forming in his throat when his comforter shifts.

As he reaches for the comforter, he hears a soft whimper but he swears that it _is_ a whimper. A very human whimper in fact. 

“Okay, Nozomu. You can do this,” he encourages himself before taking in a deep breath and then yanking the covers away.

What he finds under his cover leaves him bewildered and confused and shocked and stunned and just about every word in the dictionary which is synonymous to those few words mentioned before because he finds a _guy_ lying there. He is wearing something akin to a bathrobe but not quite and Nozomu can’t really put a name to what he’s wearing other than ‘white-ish, silver-ish shimmering robes’. It sounds pretty fancy because the piece of cloth draped over the other guy _does_ look pretty fancy.

The guy has golden blonde hair, too bright for Nozomu to look at for too long and the guy looks as if he is...

“Glowing?!” Nozomu squeaks before slapping a hand over his mouth because he really doesn’t want to wake the other guy up. But yes, the guy is literally glowing, radiating and emitting light and if Nozomu stares harder, the guy is practically sparkling. It is as if this guy is a –

Something sparks in Nozomu’s mind as his eyes widen in realisation. “A star,” Nozomu breathes out shakily as he grips onto the side of his bed for support. “A fallen shooting star.”

Nozomu very much wants to die of happiness.

 

 

For the next ten minutes or so, Nozomu stares at the guy or star or whatever sleeping (?) before he decides that he should actually tap him or it or whatever. At the same time he reaches his hand out, ready to tap the stranger, the latter turns, revealing his face.

The guy has a scrunched up expression on his face – his nose is wrinkled and his eyebrows are furrowed, though his lips are slightly parted and Nozomu thinks he looks quite cute. (Nozomu also concludes that the stranger is definitely a guy though his species has yet to be confirmed).

When his expression softens, Nozomu gets a clearer look of the stranger’s face and his heart skips a few (thousand) beats because this guy is the most attractive person Nozomu has ever seen in his entire life. 

_Definitely not human_ , Nozomu thinks as he stares at the guy’s long eyelashes and pale complexion. 

After staring for a while longer, Nozomu decides that he likes the stranger’s nose the best (maybe lips or maybe –). He groans and starts questioning his morality because he’s staring intently at someone sleeping just because the latter is attractive.

After a few more moments of judging himself and questioning his actions, Nozomu decides for the second time to wake the other guy up. Just as he is about to tap the other guy, the stranger’s eyes fly open and Nozomu catches a glimpse of golden.

“Holy shit,” Nozomu says as he tumbles backwards and his towel almost falls off but he holds on to it in time and tightens it around his waist. He counts from one to three in his head and takes in a deep breath before deciding to peer over the edge again. As he is about to move forward, the stranger jolts up into a sitting position, sending Nozomu bustling backwards, causing his head to slam against the wall with a loud thump. His hand instinctively reaches out to the back of his head to start massaging it but he doesn’t really bother about the pain.

The stranger shakes his head a few times and _glitter_ starts falling from his hair. Nozomu’s eyes widen as he tries to comprehend _how_ glitter can fall from someone’s hair unless that person is at a party and is having fun with too much glitter spray. That is a possibility Nozomu has not ruled out yet. Because summer, parties and crazy drunk people playing with glitter then smashing your window and climbing into your room to steal your comforters and clothes all connect together very well.

Then the stranger stands up and all Nozomu can see is _legs, legs, legs_ because the other guy is tall and has legs that go on for miles. Though Nozomu thinks he’s still probably taller than the stranger but he doesn’t usually see or hang out with people as tall as him i.e. Kamiyama Tomohiro and Hirano Sho. Nozomu tries to ignore how attractive the blonde stranger is. 

“Where am I?” The stranger asks, clearly alarmed as his eyes dart around the room. If Nozomu squints hard enough, he can see flecks of gold in the other’s irises.

“Erm,” Nozomu begins lamely as the other turns his attention onto him. “My room?” When the stranger blinks, Nozomu is sure that the other’s eyes are glittering silvery gold. “You’re in my room to be exact.” He starts feeling conscious about his half naked state with only a towel around his waist while he’s curled up against the headboard of his bed. To put it simply, he feels stupid and unglamorous because there is a really attractive guy standing at the foot of his bed.

When the other doesn’t say anything and only continues to blink at Nozomu, the latter sighs and uncurls himself, allowing his long legs to stretch out over the rest of his bed. At this point in time, Nozomu has concluded that the other is not dangerous and will not serve as any form of potential threat to his life so he thinks that it is okay to be near the other. 

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Nozomu asks and the stranger jumps, startling Nozomu a little because he doesn’t think his tone was too fierce or too harsh. He gulps when the stranger starts fidgeting, looking uncomfortable all over. There is a knot growing in Nozomu’s throat and he isn’t sure if he can continue this ‘conversation’ anymore.

“Can you stop looking at me?” The stranger asks meekly as he continues fidgeting. 

Nozomu is taken aback at the request because it is _his_ room and he isn’t the intruder here. “Stop wha – ” 

“Looking at me!” Nozomu gets cut off by the stranger who currently has a faint blush on his cheeks. “Stop looking at me,” the other says exasperatedly as he points at Nozomu accusingly. “I’m a shooting star and humans aren’t supposed to be able to see me for more than a few seconds and you’re,” he lets out whine and stops pointing at Nozomu to let his hands dangle by his sides. “You’re _staring_ at me, so STOP. I don’t feel comfortable.”

At that, Nozomu immediately brings his hands up to his eyes to cover them because he doesn’t want the other to feel uncomfortable. But then again, who is the one wrapped in only a towel around his waist? Nozomu groans and has the urge to grab his clothes to put them on. He hears a quiet squeak and curiosity gets the better of him so he steals a peek in between his fingers by parting them slightly. The stranger currently has his back faced towards Nozomu and Nozomu wants to ask why but that would mean that he’s looking at the stranger who would feel uncomfortable (apparently, because he is a shooting star). 

His question gets answered without him asking anyway because the other is making some whining noises again before he starts speaking. “Can you _please_ put on some clothes?”

 _He has the nerve to ask?!_ Nozomu scowls as he thinks back to who was the one who stole his clothes. 

“So I can look at your back right?” Nozomu asks, not really expecting anything but a ‘yes’. The stranger shocks him though because he tells Nozomu to face the other direction so he wouldn’t be looking at him at all.

With an exasperated sigh, Nozomu stands up and pulls away his towel in a swift motion before throwing it on the bed. On second thought, he picks it up and hurls it at the back of the stranger instead, causing the latter to yelp and turn around only to turn back to face the wall almost instantly.

Nozomu chuckles as he pulls on his pants while facing the other side of the wall due to the stranger’s unreasonable request. Whose room is it again? 

“What’s your name?” Nozomu asks with his back still facing the stranger despite being fully dressed already (though that isn’t really the point). But he doesn’t turn around because he doesn’t want to make the other feel uncomfortable (regardless of how demanding, unreasonable and sassy the other is).

After what feels like an eternity of silence, the stranger answers him, tone soft and melodious. “I’m Ryusei.” His voice sounds so sweet that it sends chills down Nozomu’s spine. 

Actually, Nozomu wants to laugh out loudly because Ryusei claims to be a shooting star and his name literally means shooting star. April Fools is long over in his opinion. But then he thinks about his name and frowns.

“What’s yours?” The question sounds like its being echoed off a wall so Nozomu can only guess that the other is still facing the wall like he is. 

“Nozomu,” he replies.

“Wish?” 

“I’m human, actually.”

“I know.”

And Nozomu is certain that there is a frown on the other’s face as they’re having this conversation.

“I’m a shooting star.”

Nozomu resists every urge to scoff so he settles with echoing the stranger’s words. “I know.” The next few words tumble out of his mouth before he can even register what he actually wants to say. “You’re Ryusei.”

He feels a tap on his shoulder and he turns around but he looks to the side as soon as he comes face to face with Ryusei because the other is _blinding_. 

“Can you like,” Nozomu starts as he gestures with his hand. “Tone down your glow or something a little? You’re really bright.”

“Okay,” Ryusei says after awhile so Nozomu turns his head to face Ryusei again. The other does look less bright, but bright nonetheless. 

Also, Nozomu is right about being taller than Ryusei because right now when they are standing face to face, he has to look down a little to meet Ryusei’s eyes, Ryusei’s dazzling silvery gold eyes.

“How do I get home?” Ryusei asks.

“What? Excuse me?” Nozomu says, utterly shocked. Did Ryusei really just ask him _how to go home_? To where? Home? The galaxy?

“Yeah, my home.” Ryusei gestures to all the books – astronomy books – strewn across Nozomu’s study table. “Near Perseus. You seem to know quite a bit about it,” Ryusei continues while walking over to Nozomu’s study table to pick up a notebook. He shoves the book in Nozomu’s face and the latter can see the words _Perseids_ and _Perseus_ in his own handwriting.

“That’s because I’m an Astronomy major,” Nozomu groans out and snatches the book away because it is making him go cross eyed and dizzy.

“Astronomy?” Ryusei asks with a quizzical look on his face. “What’s astronomy?”

“It’s the study of,” Nozomu pauses because he’s about to give Ryusei the Wikipedia definition which he has memorised by heart but the other guy probably wouldn’t even be able to understand it. “I study about things like the galaxies and the moon and planets and,” he stops again and looks into Ryusei’s eyes. “And stars. All kinds of stars.”

Ryusei mouths _oh_ as he slowly nods his head. “So you study,” Ryusei starts and gestures to himself. “Me?”

“Kind of?” Nozomu answers unsurely because _what the heck, I do not study you, I study astronomy_.

“Because I’m a shooting star?”

“Technically,” Nozomu starts. “You’re not a shooting star anymore because you’re here and not up there, so you’re a meteorite. And shooting stars aren’t really stars you know?”

“I know we’re not stars but it’s what’s we’re called right?” Ryusei raises a brow and Nozomu finds himself loss for words once again. “And don’t call me a meteorite.” His eyes are flashing dangerously and Nozomu feels a little intimidated because there are silvery gold orbs piercing him.

“But if you really are a shooting star and if you really had fallen down or something,” Nozomu stops talking when he realises something. “You fell?”

“From the sky, yes. It’s the Perseids season, you know that. I fell. I tripped. I was clumsy, I fell,” Ryusei says easily, sounding a little annoyed but Nozomu doesn’t really care so he presses on.

“You’re that shooting star,” Nozomu concludes as he stares at Ryusei. “You’re the shooting star that I saw falling down.”

“You saw me falling?” Ryusei asks, a little incredulous and Nozomu simply nods. Ryusei sighs and his eyes start to turn watery, scaring the crap out of Nozomu. “I just want to go home.”

“I’ll help you,” Nozomu says without thinking and then whips out his phone to Google _How to help a fallen shooting star go home_.

 

 

It’s been approximately four hours since Nozomu has started Googling for ways to send Ryusei back home and frankly speaking, he knows that he will not be able to find a way because _who the hell in this world have met a shooting star before_? He contemplates making an ask on Yahoo or posting on his Facebook wall and tagging all his friends for help but he’ll probably be sent to a mental institution sooner than he will be able to help Ryusei get home to near Perseus, wherever that is.

He’s on the twenty-seventh page of Google search when he hears a crashing noise. Not bothering to look up from the screen, he tells Ryusei to stop breaking all his things. Because the last time he checked on Ryusei was about three hours ago and he had witnessed the end of his guitar firsthand when Ryusei had snapped a string (he doesn’t know how Ryusei did it).

Nozomu smirks as he bookmarks another Twilight fanfic he finds on the page. Sho will be so pleased to receive all these links later (not that Sho likes Twilight, but Nozomu likes to troll). Feeling tired, he throws his phone aside before planting his face into his pillow. 

When he looks up, something gets shoved into his face. Luckily, he backs away in time so that the object doesn’t hit him. 

“What’s this?” Ryusei asks curiously as he swings a telescope keychain around.

 _Of course_ , Nozomu thinks dryly and holds Ryusei’s hand to put a stop to the swinging because it is making his head spin. “It’s a keychain,” Nozomu explains as he looks at the object. “In the shape of a telescope.”

Ryusei brings it closer to his own face to inspect it. “What do you do with it? And what’s a telescope?” He looks at Nozomu expectantly and the latter wonders if Ryusei knows what a puppy is and how much he looks like one right now. “Oh, oh and what’s that?” Ryusei asks as he points at Nozomu’s study lamp. “It’s becomes bright when I touch something. But it’s not a star or anything I know so what is it?”

The string of questions gives Nozomu a massive headache because he’s never had to explain so many simple things before. He’s the dumb one according to his sister. As he processes Ryusei’s questions in his mind, he glances to his clock and then groans loudly because he realises how he hasn’t had any sleep in almost twenty four hours and Ryusei isn’t helping.

 _What do you know?_ Nozomu wants to ask but he thinks again and decides that he shouldn’t. So he starts answering all of Ryusei’s questions one by one. And when he’s done, there’s another set of questions and when he’s done answering the second set of questions, the third set comes and the cycle repeats and repeats but at the end of it, Nozomu finds himself smiling.

Teaching Ryusei is like teaching a child on his first day of school or teaching a toddler how to walk for the first time ever and Nozomu never thought that he would enjoy it this much. 

At the end of it, Ryusei’s head is nestled into the pillow next to Nozomu’s lap while his hand is clutching an airplane model. For a few seconds, Nozomu watches the other sleep, feeling a warm tingly sensation in his stomach. He uncurls Ryusei’s fingers from the airplane model and sets the object on his bedside table. And for a while longer, he sits there and stares into space as he listens to the sound of Ryusei breathing softly. 

Subconsciously, his hand reaches for Ryusei’s hair and he starts threading his fingers through the other’s blonde strands. On the first touch, he notices how soft the other’s hair is and wonders if there will be glitter all over his hand when he pulls it away. He looks down to where Ryusei’s head is lying and doesn’t find any sparkle or glitter coming off his hair so he thinks his hand wouldn’t have any either.

Ryusei stirs and Nozomu immediately withdraws his hand from the other’s hair. The other opens his eyes and Nozomu sees it again – the silvery golden irises – and he simply cannot get over how beautiful they look. 

“I want to go home,” Ryusei whines.

As Nozomu is about to reply, his door flies open and he does the first thing that comes to his mind – he pushes Ryusei off the bed and onto the floor. He doesn’t mind that some of his things are flying to the ground as well due to the courtesy of Ryusei dumping everything onto his bed when he asked questions related to them.

The impact causes Ryusei to hit the ground with a loud thump and he yelps but Nozomu shouts a random word at the same time so that his voice overpowers Ryusei’s.

His sister stares at him at the doorway with a blank expression on her face. “Nozomu,” she starts calmly before walking in and Nozomu shifts closer to where he had pushed Ryusei off.

“Nozo – ” Ryusei says from the ground and lets out an unmanly yelp when Nozomu kicks him in the shin.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH,” Nozomu shouts again, silencing Ryusei at once.

“What in the world,” his sister says as she walks closer to Nozomu, sending the boy scrambling to the floor.

Nozomu sits on Ryusei’s chest and sends the other into a frenzy as he starts to whack Nozomu furiously. So Nozomu shifts his position to bracket his legs around Ryusei’s waist to straddle him. He shoots the struggling boy beneath him a glare and covers his mouth with his hand to prevent him from talking. But it doesn’t stop him from whining at the back of his throat.

“Shut up,” Nozomu hisses at Ryusei.

“Did you just tell me to shut up, Nozomu?” Nozomu’s sister sounds angry and he’s probably going to get it later but whatever. “And what are you doing on the floor?” She moves nearer and he squeaks. “Is there someone th – ”

“NO!” Nozomu shouts. “No one’s here I mean but can you please leave,” he says and gives her a billion watt smile while pointing at his door. “I’m kind busy right now and didn’t we agree to knock and not just barge in like you did just now?”

His sister glares at him but he continues smiling. “I _did_ knock. A couple of times even but you didn’t open.”

“What do you want anyway?” Nozomu snaps a bit impatiently because he really needs his sister out of his room and he really wants to be off of Ryusei.

“Your window is broken,” his sister says. “We can all see the broken edges from outside. What did you do this time?”

“It wasn’t me!” Nozomu defends himself in a heartbeat. It really isn’t his fault. “A kid threw a baseball into my room,” he lies quickly before pointing to a baseball lying on the floor next to his cupboard.

“I don’t believe you but fine. Just get it – ”

Nozomu ducks down suddenly because Ryusei starts whining and squirming again, causing his sister to stop mid sentence. He glares at Ryusei and shushes him softly until the other guy stops moving and making noises.

“Nozo – ”

“Get it fixed right?” Nozomu completes the sentence he knows his sister wants to say. “I know, I know. Can you please, please, please leave now? I’ll go down for dinner soon. I just have to pack my room a little.”

The door slams shut a few moments later and Nozomu knows that his sister is really appalled by his attitude but it really isn’t his fault. He glares down at Ryusei – the source of all his problems so far.

“Caneugetaofmenau,” Ryusei says into Nozomu’s hand pressed against his mouth.

“Come again?” Nozomu asks, completely unaware that he is still covering Ryusei’s mouth. 

Ryusei huffs before repeating the same thing again and it still sounds as gibberish as ever and Nozomu doesn’t understand gibberish. “What?”

For a while, Nozomu feels teeth against his skin and he’s a little surprised but before he can register that his hand is still over Ryusei’s mouth, the other guy bites down hard on his hand, causing Nozomu to holler. He retracts his hand straight away and finds a set of teeth marks on the flesh below thumb.

While glowering at Ryusei, Nozomu notices how flushed the other’s cheeks are. Then he makes the connection in his head that he had been stopping Ryusei’s flow of air. Opps. 

“I thought you don’t need to breathe,” Nozomu tells Ryusei honestly and the latter gives him a menacing stare. “I don’t know what shooting stars do okay?”

“I thought you studied Astronomy,” Ryusei snaps back, cheeks still flushed from all the blood pooled there.

“I don’t know how fallen shooting stars like you work.”

And Ryusei actually seems to accept that response because he turns his head to the side, refusing to meet Nozomu’s gaze any longer. Maybe he is just ignoring Nozomu.

“Can you get off me,” Ryusei whispers, barely audible but with such a close proximity between Nozomu and him, it doesn’t go unheard by the other.

Nozomu’s face heats up immediately and he comments about the temperature in the room growing considerable hotter by the second. When Ryusei doesn’t say anything but stares at Nozomu like the latter is the weird non-human in this room, Nozomu laughs awkwardly and backs away from Ryusei.

When Nozomu remembers that Ryusei is still lying on the floor, he walks over with the intention of helping the other up. But as he starts walking, Ryusei is already standing but Nozomu can swear on his life that Ryusei did _not_ move at all.

“What?” Ryusei asks when he catches Nozomu staring at him with his mouth agape. Nozomu doesn’t answer. He simple turns away and starts to pack his room. “What?” Ryusei presses when Nozomu doesn’t reply.

Narrowing his eyes, Ryusei stalks over to Nozomu briskly. When he taps Nozomu’s back, the other tenses up before relaxing.

“Stop that,” Nozomu says, barely looking at Ryusei as he continues putting the things Ryusei had messed up back into place. He looks at his broken guitar forlornly before picking it up and dumping it into his closet. With the amount of work he has these days, he never has the time to play it anymore anyway.

“Stop what?” And Ryusei sounds honestly confused so Nozomu stops packing to spare him a pitying glance before returning to packing. “I don’t understand you.”

It is the clueless tone in Ryusei’s voice which makes Nozomu stop packing all at once to face him fully. He sighs and looks to his clock but doesn’t really register the time in his head because it’s probably been more than twenty four hours since he last slept. 

“Stop,” Nozomu starts while making random gestures with his hands. “Moving so quickly and all that. You need to learn how to walk. Like a human,” Nozomu says the last sentence quickly because Ryusei looks like he wanted to interrupt. “I honestly don’t know how to help you get home and if, if you’re going to remain here on Earth, then you need to start learning how to act like a human.”

If Ryusei were a puppy, his ears would probably be curved downwards now and he would have the most pitiable expression on his face with the glassiest, most watery eyes ever. To put it simply – Ryusei has a kicked puppy expression on his face (he probably doesn’t even realise it though) and Nozomu tries his hardest to stop himself from thinking _adorable_. Because being around Ryusei is stressful. All Nozomu has felt ever since Ryusei arrive is constant panic and distress. 

“But I am walking…” Ryusei mutters, voice growing softer with each word. 

“Like a human,” Nozomu says calmly, trying not to make his tone sound biting. _It isn’t really Ryusei’s fault, so try to be nicer to him_ , Nozomu reasons with himself in his head before changing his judgement almost instantly. _No. It **is** his fault. He said he fell because he was clumsy._

There is a moment of silence before Ryusei starts talking again. “I know you’re mad at me,” he starts as he looks down at his bare feet. His golden bangs fall to the front of his face and from this angle, Nozomu can only see tip of his nose but he imagines that Ryusei’s silvery gold eyes are now glistening with water. “And I’m sorry.”

He looks up, proving Nozomu’s thoughts wrong because his eyes aren’t filled with water but they are glistening nonetheless, the golden flecks in his eye shining amidst the silver ocean of his irises. 

When Nozomu doesn’t say anything, Ryusei continues, sounding despondent and Nozomu starts feeling slightly guilty. “When you watch us, we’re watching you too.”

The surprised expression on Nozomu’s face tells Ryusei that the other hadn’t been aware of that little fact until now. So he grins and continues to divulge more things to Nozomu. “We appear in the day too. ‘We’ as in the Perseids. And we’re usually around, not only during August but August is when we’re visible.”

That information has Nozomu falling backwards and he braces himself by holding his rolling chair. “What?” Nozomu splutters. “You mean what I’ve been learning are all lies?”

“I don’t know what you’re learning,” Ryusei admits with a shrug. “But don’t think too much because what I want to say is – I know you’ve been watching us. A lot, in fact and you never fail to see the Perseids ever since you were five or something. Your grandfather used to bring you out to see us but he stopped because,” Ryusei stops there and doesn’t complete his sentence before moving on to the next one. “So I’m trying to say that I know who you are. Know in the sense that I know you watch stars to an unhealthy extent but nothing else.”

“So you decided to fall into my bedroom?” Nozomu questions but he hasn’t really comprehended everything Ryusei just said. 

“It was an accident. I didn’t know it was your room,” Ryusei replies grumpily while folding his arms. “But I’m glad it was you.”

The compliment has Nozomu burning with pride and he straightens his back just a little. “Why though?”

Ryusei shrugs and Nozomu scowls, making the other chuckle. “I don’t really know. I just thought you would know what to do with me.”

 _I don’t. I don’t have the slightest clue_ , Nozomu wants to say but before he can even open his mouth, he hears a faint knock on his door. “What?” He chooses to ask whoever is knocking his door instead. 

“Are you coming down for dinner?” It is his mother. 

“Yes,” Nozomu shouts back, turning his head to face the door in the process to ensure that he’ll be heard. And then he hears his mother’s barefoot hitting the marble floor, telling him she is walking away. “Stay here and don’t touch anything, okay?” Nozomu tells Ryusei when he turns back to facing the other guy. “I’ll be right back up. If you can,” Nozomu pauses to look at the mess in his room and he comes up with two ideas – one, get Ryusei to clean his room because it was him who messed it up anyway and two, get Ryusei to just stay in the room and not do anything.

With the two options in mind, he weighs them while staring at Ryusei poking the glass cover of his compass. His instincts tell him to go with option one after seeing Ryusei putting the compass back to its original position.

“Can you help me pack my room?” Nozomu says, stopping Ryusei from inspecting his watch and dropping it in the process. The watch hits the floor with a soft thump and Nozomu’s heart shatters because it is an expensive watch. He immediately regrets asking Ryusei to pack his room. “Actually, you know what? Never mind. You don’t have to – ”

In the blink of an eye and Ryusei is in front of him clutching on to his hands and looking desperate. “I’ll pack your room, don’t worry!”

Nozomu eyes Ryusei wearily but the other clutches onto Nozomu’s hands tighter and squeezing them in assurance. With that, Nozomu nods his head reluctantly. 

“Please don’t destroy my room,” Nozomu says as he reaches for the door knob. 

When Nozomu turns around, he sees Ryusei gathering a stack of books into his arms and the latter soon has an armful of book. So he decides to lean against his door to see what Ryusei is up to for a while. 

Despite being so tall, Ryusei seems like he would topple from the weight of all the books in his arms but he doesn’t. He proceeds to dump all the books onto Nozomu’s bed, causing Nozomu to ‘tsk’ rather loudly but Ryusei pays him no heed and starts to shelve the books, one at a time.

After a few more minutes of watching Ryusei pack, Nozomu guesses that Ryusei _might_ be able to pack. That thought flies out of Nozomu’s mind as soon as Ryusei trips over a stack of books, creating a bigger mess. Nozomu wants to tell Ryusei to stop but he can hear his father calling him and he decides _screw it_ before reaching for the door knob.

“Promise me you won’t kick me out until I find a way to get home,” Ryusei calls out just as Nozomu turns the door knob.

Nozomu looks over his shoulder and catches Ryusei’s fearful expression and his gaze softens. He nods his head and then opens the door.

“Say it,” Ryusei demands, determined for Nozomu to actually promise him.

“I won’t kick you out,” Nozomu promises when he turns fully to face Ryusei. “I promise.” And with that, he leaves the room, closing the door behind him gently.

 

 

Dinner ends quickly for Nozomu because he gobbles his food down as soon as he starts. Maybe he needs to have more faith in Ryusei but really, he doesn’t trust anyone but his mother with packing his room. The quicker he’s done eating, the sooner he can embrace the fact that his room has become a total mess (not that it wasn’t already but still). 

The dishes on his plate disappear at the speed of light as he stuffs his mouth endlessly. It earns him a reprimanding glare from his mother but he doesn’t bother as he practically inhales his dinner.

As Nozomu’s walking up the stairs, his sister stops him.

“Why were you so weird just now?” His sister asks, narrowing her eyes, clearly suspicious of Nozomu’s behaviour. “Were you doing _something_?”

Nozomu grimaces. “Yeah, kind of. I was doing some important stuff.”

At that, his sister bursts out into fits of hysteric giggles before patting him on the back and telling him to _take care_ and some more crap Nozomu doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know what his sister got out of his reply but he thinks it’s probably ridiculous anyway.

Knowing his sister, she would not think that he was jerking off or reading or watching porn or anything even mildly related to anything in that category. Knowing his sister, she also probably thinks he is having a sexuality crisis or mid life crisis at the age of twenty one. Also, she probably thinks he’s having some health or life problems. Yes, that is his sister.

“Thanks,” Nozomu coos at his sister before rolling his eyes when she doesn’t stop laughing. She stops patting his back though, but is now in favour of whacking his back as she laughs. 

He pushes her hand away and sticks out his tongue at her before flying up the stairs, three steps at a time because he is tall and can do that.

When he reaches his door, he stops in front of it and bends forward to allow his head to rest against it as he prays to all the Gods that his room hasn’t been burnt down. With the expectation and readiness to face a destroyed room, he holds his breath and swings open the door.

Which is why when he sees a sparkling clean room, the first thing he says is _sorry, wrong room_ and then proceeds to close the door only for it to be swung open from the inside just moments later.

“Don’t be stupid,” Ryusei says as he drags Nozomu into the room and sits him down on the bed. He looks at Nozomu with a stupid grin on his face which Nozomu wants to kiss off but no, he changes his mind and he wants to slap the grin away when the other looks at him so proudly and smug. “So?”

“Not bad,” Nozomu says imperiously and makes a show of checking how clean his room is by moving his index finger across the top of his bed side table.

Truthfully, Nozomu expects his finger to be clean of nothing when he looks at it again. But what he finds instead is the pad of his finger stained with glitter. Lots of glitter.

“What the hell?!” Nozomu yells as he waves his finger in Ryusei’s face. “What is this?! You sprinkled glitter all over my room!”

Ryusei winces. “I can’t help it!”

“Can’t help sprinkling glitter?!” Nozomu shrieks and stares at Ryusei with a scandalised expression on his face.

The past twelve hours or so has been a major headache for Nozomu. He sees a shooting star falling from the sky and he actually finds said shooting star in his room who appears to be more human than anything. And he finds out bizarre facts like shooting stars do come out in the morning too but they just aren’t visible to anyone in the day. What’s more astounding is – he finds it out _from_ a self-proclaimed shooting star (at this point in time, Nozomu is seventy five percent convinced that Ryusei _is_ a shooting star that had fallen from the sky but the remaining twenty five percent of him tells him that he needs to be more rational). 

Now, he finds out that the shooting star can sprinkle glitter as and when he wishes.

“It’s not glitter!” Ryusei protests. “It’s just shooting star dust.”

Or not.

“Star dust?” Nozomu asks, eyebrows knitting together as if it is instinct when he starts talking to Ryusei. He swipes another finger across the table and brings it to his face for further inspection. Nope, definitely glitter.

“ _Shooting_ star dust,” Ryusei corrects him. He motions to the sparkling particles on Nozomu’s bed side table. “They’ll disappear in awhile.”

“You have shooting star dust falling off you?”

Ryusei stares at Nozomu like he’s dumb and Nozomu wants to bring up how Ryusei didn’t know what a key chain is. But he reconsiders before saying it because arguing with a shooting star about objects from earth is going to be really stupid. “I’m a shooting star if you haven’t noticed.”

“I know,” Nozomu growls out. “How does it work anyway?”

The question seems to catch Ryusei off guard because he stumbles backwards. “I don’t know how to explain it,” Ryusei says flatly. He purses his lips and stares at Nozomu. He takes his bottom lip in between his teeth and Nozomu gets distracted by that movement. Nozomu is guessing that Ryusei’s thinking but this is _such_ a distracting way of thinking.

When Ryusei stops nibbling on his bottom lip, his tongue darts out and he wets his lips in one fluid motion. Nozomu groans and decides to end Ryusei’s thinking process. “Why don’t you show it to me?”

Ryusei throws Nozomu a curious look and the latter continues explaining. “When you first woke up, you shook your head and the shooting star dust fell off your hair too? So if you – ”

“Oh,” Ryusei says, understanding what Nozomu’s trying to say quicker than the latter expects. He shakes his head a few times and glittering dust start falling from his golden locks. “Like this?” He asks after he stops shaking his head and there are sparkles all around him, glimmering and extraordinary.

It’s just like the Perseids Nozomu’s been watching the past few days. They streak across the night sky, lighting it up before vanishing completely and leaving a trail of shimmering glitter in their wake.

This is also when Nozomu notices that Ryusei is _still_ glowing and wonders how and when he had gotten used to Ryusei so quickly. “Yeah, like that,” Nozomu whispers, mostly to himself.

Nozomu snaps out of the daze he didn’t even realise he had gone into when he sees Ryusei’s hand waving in front of him.

“Sorry,” Nozomu murmurs, feeling embarrassed. “I kind of spaced out a little.”

Luckily, Ryusei isn’t human and luckily Ryusei isn’t any of Nozomu’s friends who would jump at every opportunity to make fun of him. Ryusei simply nods his head at Nozomu’s clarification.

“By the way,” Nozomu says as he looks at Ryusei. “We need to get some things straight first. Ground rules and all.”

“Ground rules?” Ryusei asks in that same confused tone he always uses when Nozomu says something he doesn’t understand. 

But Nozomu doesn’t really want to explain anything right now. “Never mind. I’m going to ask a few questions and you just have to answer okay?”

Ryusei nods at that and sits down on the floor, opposite Nozomu’s dangling legs. Nozomu feels bad about sitting on the bed alone so he shifts to the floor and sits cross legged because he doesn’t want to kick Ryusei. The expression Ryusei has on his face is pure curiosity and excitement and Nozomu can’t help but chuckle at how child-like Ryusei is.

“Question one,” Nozomu starts formally just to see Ryusei’s reaction – the other is nodding and leaning forward a bit. If Ryusei were a puppy, his tail would probably be wagging vigorously right now as his ears stand. “When are your sleeping hours?”

“It varies,” Ryusei replies with ease as he moves back to sit upright. “I sleep any time. As for how long, mm,” he purses his lips and Nozomu guesses that it’s a habit of the other’s when he’s thinking. 

_Shooting stars have habits_ , Nozomu notes down mentally.

“I can sleep for days or months. Perseids aren’t active all year round anyway. You know that,” Ryusei says with a shrug.

“Right,” Nozomu says and tells himself that he needs to check when the Perseids are active (besides during August) to know how to deal with Ryusei’s sleeping habits. “Do you have to eat?”

“No, but I can,” Ryusei answers with a grin, eyes twinkling with mischief and Nozomu tries not to get distracted by the silvery gold irises.

“What can you do and what can you not do?”

“That’s very vague,” Ryusei counters, frowning.

“Okay, fine,” Nozomu gives in without a fight and it seems to surprise Ryusei quite a fair bit judging by how the other lets his mouth hang open. “But can you promise me one thing?”

At that, Ryusei nods enthusiastically and Nozomu has to resist the urge to make another puppy comparison in his mind. 

“While you’re on Earth, you act like a human.”

“But I don’t – ”

Nozomu raises his hand to stop Ryusei from talking. “I’ll help you fit in. I’ll teach you how to act human.”

“And this continues until I get home?” Ryusei asks, looking worried and scared all over. He fidgets slightly and Nozomu wonders if he is uncomfortable but he doesn’t say anything about it.

“Until you get home,” Nozomu confirms as he nods his head. “Also, my sleeping time is when the sky is dark, when the stars are awake and I’m active when the sun rises, okay? So while you’re here, staying with me, you follow my sleeping habits.” 

It sounds authoritative but Nozomu doesn’t mean it to be. He just wants Ryusei to cooperate with him and he needs to get his message across clearly if he wants that.

Not so surprisingly, Ryusei simply nods and agrees to all of Nozomu’s requests. 

“Great,” Nozomu says with a satisfied look on his face. “So, because I haven’t slept in almost a day or so, we sleep _now_.” 

With that, Nozomu gets up and makes his way to the bathroom while Ryusei trails along behind him.

“What are you doing?”

“Brushing my teeth, preparing for sleep,” Nozomu answers as he stifles a yawn.

“Do I have to do it too?”

“Yes,” Nozomu responds while shoving an extra toothbrush to Ryusei. 

After he’s done brushing his own teeth and washing up, he spends a good ten minutes teaching Ryusei how to brush his teeth. When he’s done, he feels more exhausted than ever and all he wants to do is to collapse onto his bed. 

But then he looks at Ryusei from head to toe and sees that the other is still in his fancy robes.

“I think you need to change out of those,” Nozomu says as he points to Ryusei’s robes. “I’ll lend you some of my clothes.” He walks over to his wardrobe to pull out a matching pair of sweater and pants before walking back and passing them to Ryusei. “I think they’ll be a little big but they should fit otherwise.”

“Okay,” Ryusei simply says before undressing himself and Nozomu is surprised that he still has enough brain power to process what Ryusei is doing so he can turn around in time for the sake of Ryusei’s privacy (though the other doesn’t seem to mind at all).

He starts changing into his own sleepwear with his back faced towards Ryusei’s and he chuckles softly at the thought of how they were at this exact same position earlier on in the day.

When he’s done changing, he goes to his wardrobe again to pull out a set of futon. He lays it out on the floor before bringing some pillows down from his bed onto it.

Ryusei watches Nozomu with curiosity but stays rooted at his spot until Nozomu beckons him over. In a heartbeat and Ryusei is by Nozomu’s side but the latter’s mind is far too hazy to comprehend any of Ryusei’s out of the world abilities so he lets it slide this time.

“You can have my bed,” Nozomu says as he starts settling down in the futon.

“Are you sure?” Ryusei asks, sounding unsure as he glances from the bed to Nozomu currently tucked under the futon covers. “I’m fine with the floor.”

Nozomu waves his hand and mummers _it’s okay_. So Ryusei goes onto Nozomu’s bed and starts making himself comfortable.

“What do you mean by you guys come out in the day too by the way?” Nozomu asks sleepily, voice sounding low and thick and it sends an involuntary shiver down Ryusei’s spine.

“Day time shooting stars,” Ryusei chirps happily and Nozomu snorts. It is way too late for Ryusei to still sound like it was day.

“Sleep,” Nozomu manages to say groggily. 

His breathing starts to even out after a while and Ryusei guesses that that’s when humans fall asleep. He stores the piece of rather unnecessary information into his mind before drifting off to sleep as well.

 _Day time shooting stars_ , Nozomu thinks.

 

 

Nozomu feels a weight settling on top of him before it shifts away only moments later. Even with his eyes closed, he can see a bright light right in front of him. And he thinks that he’s dreaming, not how there might be a possibility that he is currently experiencing sleep paralysis. 

“Nozomu.”

The voice sounds muffled to Nozomu and it sounds way too close for comfort. But anything can happen in a dream right? So he shuts his eyes tighter, willing the bright light and object above him to disappear. But the bright light remains, still penetrating his eyelids, not giving him the complete darkness he wishes for and the object doesn’t move away.

“Nozomu.”

It is the same voice, only louder and clearer this time and Nozomu starts suspecting that he isn’t having a dream. He slowly opens his eyelids but they feel so heavy and he instantly shuts his eyes again.

“Nozomu, wake up. I got something to show you.”

Definitely not a dream. So Nozomu comes to the only conclusion he has in mind - _Ryusei_ and how everything about the other being a shooting star and falling into his bedroom is not a dream. It is reality and Nozomu has to wake up to face it, only he doesn’t really want to. He ignores the other’s calls and starts thinking about lullabies to tune the other out.

But it isn’t that easy to tune Ryusei out because he starts tugging insistently on Nozomu’s sleeve. “Nozomu, wake up. I swear it’s something good!”

“Too bright,” Nozomu murmurs and brings his arms over his eyes to shield the blinding light in front of him. “Tone down.”

“Done,” Ryusei says. And Nozomu is sleepy (stupid) enough to believe that so he opens his eyes while his arm is still covering them before removing his arm completely. 

His vision is suddenly swarmed with too bright light and he starts seeing black dots. The black dots only start clearing from his sight after a while and he sees Ryusei smiling down brightly at him. Too brightly. And the fact that Ryusei is currently glowing with an extremely bright light isn’t helping at all.

“Too bri – ”

“Day time shooting star!” Ryusei exclaims, cutting Nozomu off.

It takes a while for Nozomu to understand what Ryusei means and what he catches on, he tries his best, he really does try his best not to let an ear splitting smile slip onto his face. 

 

 

As Nozomu watches Ryusei looking at his stationeries curiously, he decides to call in sick to work. This would probably shock Akito since he usually only takes one day off work – the day after watching the Perseids – because he would be too tired and dazed to do anything and Akito understands that and is used to that.

But today is different because he is still tired and knocked out of his mind – not because of the Perseids, but actually kind of – since one of the Perseids decided to fall into his room. He doesn’t plan on telling Akito about how he needs to take care of a shooting star but Akito would understand any of his ‘difficulties’ anyway.

“What’s this?” Ryusei asks, voice as inquisitive as ever and Nozomu glances to the object in the other’s hand.

“It’s a scissors,” Nozomu starts explaining and he feels like he can take on any of Ryusei’s questions today thanks to the good night’s sleep (and second sleep time after Ryusei had woken him up the first time). “You use it to cut things.”

For a moment, Ryusei doesn’t respond. He just switches between staring at Nozomu and the scissors before putting it down with a shrug before continuing to poke around Nozomu’s stationeries. He picks up another object he finds interesting and dangles it from his fingers. “What about this?”

“That’s a ruler,” Nozomu answers as he walks over to Ryusei and picks the ruler out of the latter’s hand despite his protests. “You measure things with this.” 

Nozomu demonstrates what measuring is to Ryusei and he watches excitedly as Nozomu draws a straight line onto a paper with the help of a ruler and says _five cm_.

“Then what’s this?” Ryusei asks animatedly and stretches his hand out, bringing the object between Nozomu’s eyes causing the latter to go cross eyed.

“An eraser. You erase things with it,” Nozomu simply replies and takes the eraser from Ryusei. 

When he realises that Ryusei actually plans on going through all of his stationeries, he groans and pulls a chair next to Ryusei before settling down on it. He makes himself comfortable since this is probably going to take a very, very long while.

 

 

By the time Nozomu is done with explaining what stationeries are to Ryusei, the other is already up on his feet and disappearing, only to reappear in front of Nozomu’s wardrobe when Nozomu blinks.

“You need to stop doing that,” Nozomu scolds lightly as he makes his way over to Ryusei. “Remember my rules? You’re on Earth now so you need to _walk_.”

“I am walking,” Ryusei groans. “Shooting stars just walk faster than you humans. Suck it up.”

“No,” Nozomu starts. “You guys don’t walk. You guys flit, flutter and dart around like high speed molecules.”

When Ryusei scrunches up his nose, making creases and lines appear around it, Nozomu prepares himself for a question. But nothing comes and Ryusei simply shrugs.

“Teach me then.”

If it isn’t for Nozomu’s good and kind nature, he would have thrown the other out already and not make him any promises about not kicking him out. But Ryusei sounds so imperious all the time that Nozomu wonders if Ryusei has a family and if he does, whether he is the youngest.

“Do you have a family?” Nozomu asks, surprising Ryusei as the other stares at him, eyes wide.

Now Nozomu just feels like a complete idiot for asking a shooting star if he has a family. But why not?

“Yeah,” Ryusei responds. “I have parents obviously and two younger sisters.”

The utterly wrecked expression Ryusei has on his face astonishes Nozomu a little. When Nozomu looks at Ryusei carefully, studying his face, he notices how Ryusei’s eyes have dimmed a little. The silvery gold orbs are not as glimmering and sparkly anymore as they were yesterday.

“Can we not talk about my family?” Ryusei asks after a beat and his eyes are now sparkling, not from their natural glisten but from the tears forming.

A droplet of tear falls from Ryusei’s eye and Nozomu compares it to a diamond falling into an ocean because that is what it looks like to him. It is a single drop of tear but Nozomu sees it sparkling and glowing radiantly.

“I’m sorry,” Nozomu apologises quickly.

“What is this?” Ryusei chokes out while pointing at the wardrobe.

Nozomu doesn’t reply because he’s staring at Ryusei’s back and feeling extremely sorry for the shooting star. He wants to ask more questions – Is this the first time a shooting star has fallen down? Do you know how to get back up? Is there any way to help you back up? – but he knows that Ryusei probably doesn’t have the answer and that is exactly why the other is so troubled.

“Nozomu?” Ryusei says as he looks up at Nozomu, eyes still glistening with fresh tears.

“It’s a wardrobe,” Nozomu replies while smiling kindly at Ryusei. “It’s where I keep my clothes.”

 

 

On the 18th of August, Nozomu is woken up by a loud crash. Immediately, he jolts up and the first thing he does is to check the bed. Ryusei isn’t there.

He throws himself up onto his feet haphazardly, limbs uncoordinated as he rushes to look out his broken window where he finds Ryusei lying on the floor staring up at the sky.

“Shit,” Nozomu curses before pulling his jacket off the back of his chair and then putting it on. Once he’s done, he bolts out of his room, not even bothering to check the time and rushes down the stairs before finally running out the front door.

As soon as he steps outside the house, a chilly breeze hits him square on the face, but he doesn’t care about how it sends a shiver down his spine and how goose bumps are starting to form on his skin. 

Cautiously, he approaches Ryusei with silent steps and stops just right before the other’s head. He moves into a squatting position before waving his hand over Ryusei’s face a few times until the other swats his hand away, mumbling _don’t block my view_.

“Your view of what?” Nozomu asks as he looks up to the pitch black sky. “Your view of the endless abyss of darkness?”

“The stars,” Ryusei answers with the roll of his eyes.

So Nozomu squints and tries to make out anything that even remotely resembles a star in the sky but he doesn’t spot any. All he sees is an ocean of blackness. “There’s nothing.”

“I can see them,” Ryusei responds immediately.

“Oh.”

Silence engulfs them both just like how a blanket of darkness is thrown over the night sky.

“I tried to go home,” Ryusei starts and Nozomu tenses. “I climbed onto the roof and then counted from one to three before jumping off in hopes that maybe I’d be able to jump to the sky.”

“Wait, you mean to say that you jumped off the roof? Are you mad?” Nozomu shouts at Ryusei, feeling an irrational sense of anger building inside him.

“But I didn’t,” Ryusei continues, smoothly ignoring Nozomu. “And I fell, hard and fast onto this patch of grass and it feels like how I fell down the other day.”

“Ryusei,” Nozomu says as his eyes soften.

“It’s my birthday,” Ryusei announces. “And I can’t spend it with my family. And I’m stuck here on Earth and I’m just clueless and lost and I don’t know what to do. And I just want to go home.” His voice cracks at the end and Nozomu wants to pull him into a hug to rub his back to soothe him.

But what Nozomu does instead is sit next to Ryusei. “Happy birthday,” he wishes the other and looks down at Ryusei, meeting his gaze.

Nozomu chuckles when he thinks of something. “How old are you anyway?”

“A few ten billion light years.”

“The last time I checked, shooting stars have a lifespan of a few billion years and most of them die by then,” Nozomu says smartly, earning an amused look from Ryusei.

“Smart ass.”

“Astronomy major.”

A smile slowly appears on Ryusei’s lips and Nozomu finds himself smiling unconsciously as well.

“I honestly don’t remember my age,” Ryusei says. “My family needs to remind me every year.” He smiles up at Nozomu. “Why don’t you give me an age on Earth?”

Nozomu scoffs but he does start thinking how old Ryusei would be. “Twenty four,” Nozomu finally says after moments of nothing but the sound of crickets cricking. “You’re definitely older than me.”

At that, Ryusei’s the one scoffing this time. “Have you seen yourself? You look _old_ ,” Ryusei comments casually and Nozomu feigns being hurt as he dramatically clutches his heart and falls to his side, rolling over to face Ryusei.

When they are lying side by side with their faces only inches away from one another’s, Nozomu can clearly see the gold flecks of sparkle in Ryusei’s eyes. They are definitely dimmer than when Nozomu had first seen them but bright nonetheless at such a close proximity.

“I don’t look old,” Nozomu whispers while Ryusei laughs. “Happy twenty-fourth birthday, Ryusei.”

Ryusei hums approvingly as he looks back up to the starless night sky.

 

 

“It’s difficult.”

That’s the first thing Ryusei says the next morning.

Nozomu is leaning against the door, panting and holding a hand to his chest to try and calm his breathing. He looks up at Ryusei when the other starts speaking and is a little surprised when he sees him all unruffled and composed, simply sitting at the edge of the bed with crossed legs. Then Nozomu remembers that Ryusei isn’t human and he suddenly doesn’t feel so perplexed by the other’s state of coolness anymore.

Minutes ago, Nozomu had dragged Ryusei from the garden into the house and had practically hulled the other up the stairs as Ryusei protested and demanded to be handled carefully. But Nozomu didn’t really care, especially not when daylight had approached and people could actually see them sleeping in the garden. Nozomu knows his neighbours don’t know about him having a visitor in his home and he hasn’t told his family anything yet so better safe than sorry. Besides, he wants to be the one breaking this bizarre news to his family and not let them find out about it through some gossipy neighbour with too much time to spare.

“I said it’s difficult,” Ryusei repeats firmly but Nozomu ignores him and pushes himself off the door to grab his phone off his desk.

He sends a quick text to Akito telling the latter that he’s still sick and can’t make it to work today. After sending it, he checks his calendar – _19th August_ – it said and Nozomu sighs before ruffling his already ruffled bed hair. He hasn’t been to work for four whole days (the day after the Perseids isn’t counted because he usually takes that day off anyway) and it is all Ryusei’s fault. So he thinks he has every right to ignore Ryusei, even if it’s just for a little while.

Four days means Akito must be thinking that Nozomu is down with a really bad flu or something and then he would visit and Ryusei’s presence would be problematic. Not only Akito but his family are extremely worried about him as well, knocking on his door every few minutes when they are at home because they claim that all he’s been doing ever since the last day of the showers is hole himself up in his room.

They even went to the extent of offering to take some time off from work to take care of him but he kindly rejected them, claiming that he is really ill and he wouldn’t want to spread any of his germs and viruses to any of them.

For the past few days, he hasn’t been down for dinner, asking his mother to leave a tray of food outside his door so he wouldn’t have to risk spreading his germs to them. They had assured him that it would be fine as long as he wears a mask and take his medicine but of course, he had been firm in his decision. And he hasn’t seen his family members properly in forever as well because if he is ‘sick’, he has to keep up the whole act right?

So yes, they are not entirely wrong about the ‘holing himself up in his room all day and all night’ but it isn’t his choice and he doesn’t want to either but Ryusei.

Ryusei.

Nozomu glares at the shooting star before throwing his phone back down onto the table. His heart breaks a little when he hears the electronic device hitting the table with a loud thud but he keeps his angry gaze set on Ryusei. 

But his glare has nothing to any effect on Ryusei as the other simply stares back at him plainly with a bored expression on his face. Nozomu has to do something about this.

“Nozo – ” Ryuusei starts but Nozomu shushes him instantly.

“Shut up,” Nozomu grits out. “I’m thinking.”

“About what?”

 _How to get rid of you_ , Nozomu thinks and he actually wants to say it but he knows it is anger and he doesn’t really want to upset Ryusei or take his anger out on the latter even though it is his fault that Nozomu’s in this predicament – not being able to go to work (which he enjoys a lot) and not being able to communicate with his family members properly. 

The more Nozomu thinks about it, the more he wants to scold Ryusei but then again, it isn’t really the other’s fault. Not entirely anyway.

“I’m thinking about how to explain you to my family,” Nozomu settles with saying as he folds his arms, changing his glare to a calculative stare as he watches Ryusei.

“Explain me? Explain what?”

“Why you’re in this house and why you’re here and you know,” Nozomu replies, feeling a little annoyed at how clueless Ryusei is. Shooting star or not, Nozomu is certain that nothing so clueless can exist. That is until he met Ryusei of course.

But on second thought, Sho is probably worse so Nozomu overlooks the fact that Ryusei can be unexplainably insufferable at times with his curious nature.

“Just tell them I’m a fallen shooting star so I have to stay in your house for the time being?” Ryusei suggests casually with a shrug.

“Because that sounds so normal,” Nozomu deadpans.

“Doesn’t it?” Ryusei simply counters and Nozomu wants to strangle him, he really does but he counts from one to twenty (ten isn’t enough, he’s tried it before so he knows) in his head because he doesn’t want to do anything rash.

“Hey mum, dad and sis, I have something to tell you!” Nozomu starts excitedly and claps his hand together for the enthusiastic effect. “You see, I actually have been lying to you all about being sick because I wasn’t actually really sick. What happened was that a shooting star had fallen from the sky and into my room! So I had to take care of it, him and stuff you know?” Nozomu ends his sentence off with a super wide grin before his expression morphs into one of exasperation when he thinks about what their reactions would most likely be. 

Nozomu further imagines the whole scene which would take place after and he shivers at the thought of it. “No way in hell, Ryusei. That’s far from normal.”

“Then what are you going to say?”

“That’s why I said I was thinking,” Nozomu groans out and fixes Ryusei with a stern face but Ryusei returns it with a pitiable stare and Nozomu can’t help but wonder if Ryusei is doing it on purpose because he knows how it affects Nozomu and makes him feel guilty. So Nozomu looks away to avoid feeling any guilt which has already started to form in his chest anyway. 

“What did you want to say just now? What is difficult?” Nozomu brings the topic up because he knows that Ryusei wanted to say something but he was being an ass and had ignored the other on purpose.

“Oh right,” Ryusei says, sounding a little surprised and Nozomu wants to bang his head against the wall. “I was saying that it’s difficult to be human.”

“What’s difficult?” Nozomu asks with a frown because he isn’t sure if he had heard right. _It’s difficult to be human_?!”

“Being human,” Ryusei repeats flatly.

And Nozomu actually feels sorry, but just for a moment because there is a light bulb flashing in his mind the next.

“Just learn,” Nozomu answers swiftly. “I know how to explain why you’re here,” Nozomu continues, sounding extremely proud.

“Oh, really? What’s your plan?” Ryusei sounds so neutral and uninterested and Nozomu starts feeling a little ticked off. Forget about feeling sorry because Ryusei is unbearable (at times).

“You’re an exchange student,” Nozomu says in a relaxed manner and smirking because he knows that Ryusei doesn’t know what an exchange student means.

“A what?” Ryusei asks, sounding puzzled, as always.

“I’m an Astronomy major, you know that right?” Nozomu asks and Ryusei nods. “So you’re an Astronomy major too okay. Just that you’re from another state and you’re coming over here for a six months exchange.”

“Six months?!” Ryusei splutters and almost falls off the edge of the bed. “I’m going to be here for six months?”

“I don’t know,” Nozomu snaps, annoyed at Ryusei for cutting him off. “It’s just temporary. I’m going to tell them that the staying period is unconfirmed and there might be changes to it any time.” Nozomu knows that his family wouldn’t check with his University about this or how true his whole story is because he doesn’t lie to his family, not usually anyway. This is a special case and the lie is necessary.

“Okay,” Ryusei mutters, sounding miserable and gloomy and Nozomu rolls his eyes but he makes his way over to sit next to Ryusei anyway.

“Unless you know how to get home,” Nozomu starts, tone gentle. “You’ll be staying here.”

Ryusei doesn’t look at him but he nods when Nozomu turns to look at him. And Nozomu can’t help but notice how there is glitter falling from his hair, slowly and steadily when Ryusei nods.

“Anyway,” Nozomu starts again when the last of the glitter disappears. “I’ve been sick so I haven’t been able to pick you up and I actually forgot that I signed up for this thing so I signed up for my part time job too. Then, I’m going to say that I picked you up when they are at work and tell them the whole exchange student story and explain how you’ll be staying with us for however long your exchange is.”

“Wait, stop,” Ryusei sputters out. “I don’t understand.”

 _Shooting star_ , Nozomu reminds himself. “Just agree with everything I say and introduce yourself like you introduced yourself to me.”

“I’m Ryusei?” Ryusei asks uncertainly and Nozomu nods his head. “Okay.”

“Great,” Nozomu says, grinning madly because he is so proud of his plan. He thinks he’s a genius for being able to come up with something like that and –

His moment of self praise thoughts ceases at once when he turns to look at Ryusei because he realises how the other is _glowing_ and humans don’t, _can’t_ glow. When Ryusei looks up and meets his eye, Nozomu finds himself drowning in the silvery gold orbs before realising how _that_ isn’t normal either.

Then he notices how Ryusei isn’t actually glowing _that much_ anymore, not like the first time anyway. “Are you growing dimmer by the day?”

“No,” Ryusei answers easily and Nozomu concludes that he’s just used to it then. Damn.

“Is there any chance you can, you know” Nozomu starts, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

But Ryusei doesn’t understand what Nozomu is trying to say and raises a brow at Nozomu, earning himself a frustrated groan from the latter.

“Can you stop glowing?” Nozomu spits out. Direct and easy, who cares about having tact? “And can your eye colour change or something?”

Ryusei looks at him, bewildered and stunned. “I don’t know, honestly.”

“As for your eyes, I can just say that you love wearing these extraordinary super cool silvery gold contacts because it suits you and they’re your favourite colour or something along those lines. But as for your glowing,” Nozomu stops and frowns because there’s no excuse he can come up for that. _Oh, he swallowed glow sticks when he was a kid so he’s permanently glowing!_ No.

“But you can dim yourself right?” Nozomu asks and Ryusei nods slowly, looking uncertain. “So can you stop glowing completely?” He presses on and Ryusei shifts away from him slightly.

“I can try.”

“Okay, try it now,” Nozomu instructs and looks at Ryusei eagerly.

Nothing happens after a few minutes and Ryusei is still glowing and Nozomu is starting to feel restless.

“Well?”

“I’m trying,” Ryusei whines. “I can’t. I really can’t.”

Nozomu groans out in frustration and places his palms on his cheeks before dragging them down. “Why not?!”

“You know what it means when a shooting star stops glowing right?” Ryusei says, voice unsteady and Nozomu freezes. “It means they die.”

 

 

The pair doesn’t talk to each other for the rest of the day despite how they’re stuck in the same room the whole time except when Nozomu goes out to bring food back. Nozomu had tried to offer Ryusei food twice but the latter had said that it was okay but Nozomu had insisted for a while until he remembered Ryusei’s words about having to eat – _No, but I can_ – so he stopped asking after that.

Nozomu busies himself with reading his notes for the rest of the time at his table because he doesn’t really have anything else to do. He can’t text Kamiyama or Sho because they would insist that he should be resting and ignore him anyway. He can’t play his video games because Ryusei is in the room and he would feel awkward, especially with the tension between them. He can’t talk to Ryusei because, well.

On the other hand, Ryusei hasn’t moved from his position on Nozomu’s bed the whole time except for the two times Nozomu had offered him food and he simply sleeps.

Night takes a longer time to approach and Nozomu blames it on the unresolved tension between him and Ryusei. When he looks to the bed, Ryusei is still sleeping, golden bangs fallen over the front of his face and he’s in one of Nozomu’s sweaters, making it look oversized on him because Ryusei is of a smaller stature than Nozomu.

After watching Ryusei for a while longer, he decides to sleep as well because Ryusei looks so comfortable and peaceful and his futon is starting to look more and more tempting with each page he reads.

When he’s done with his before-sleep routine, he walks over to the bed where Ryusei is sleeping and sighs wistfully. He pulls the covers up and over Ryusei’s frame and the other shifts, causing Nozomu to freeze because he doesn’t want to wake the other up. Only when Ryusei shows no signs of waking up does Nozomu continue adjusting the covers again.

He stops again when the covers are past Ryusei shoulders because his face is too close to Ryusei’s. Looking at Ryusei, Nozomu starts to feel an inexplicable sort of nervousness. But he gets rid of all the butterflies in his stomach and brushes Ryusei’s bangs out of his face before adjusting the covers once again.

“I’ll find a way, I promise,” Nozomu whispers though he knows that Ryusei can’t hear him. He turns the lights off and settles in his futon.

There is loud music coming in from Nozomu’s broken window and he guesses that one of the neighbours is probably holding a party or whatever. He ignores the noise easily when he closes his eyes and starts thinking about the concept of day time shooting stars.

 

 

The sound of soft but consistent thumping of knuckles against wood rouses Nozomu from his sleep. He blearily notes that it’s around 8 am after glancing over to his clock with an unfocused vision. The knocking is either getting louder or he is becoming more awake and aware of what is happening.

“Nozomu, are you going to work today?” Nozomu’s father calls from the other side of the door. “Or are you still sick? You sure you don’t have to see a doctor?”

With that, Nozomu sits up and groans when he feels a dull ache in his back. He stretches for a while, deciding that his father can wait for his answer since there is still time before he has to leave anyway. When he hears the sound of blanket shifting, he looks over to his bed where Ryusei is still sleeping soundlessly and comfortably.

Not wanting to wake Ryusei up, Nozomu stands up slowly and trudges over to the door, making the effort to be as noiseless as possible as he does so. 

Though he usually opens his door to the fullest, carelessly swinging it open to the right, allowing anyone standing opposite to have a full view of his room, he doesn’t do it today. Instead, he only opens the door slightly so that he can be seen. Letting his father see a glowing stranger on his bed at 8 am in the morning isn’t an exactly an ideal situation for Nozomu (or for anyone). He mentally applauds himself for thinking properly before acting on his usual instincts to throw his door open.

Nozomu isn’t expecting his father’s knuckles to collide with his nose upon opening the door but it does.

“Ow,” Nozomu winces as his hand flies up to his nose to pinch it. “Seriously, dad?”

“Oh,” his father simply says before giving him an apologetic smile. “Didn’t see you there.”

 _Evidently_ , Nozomu thinks and it takes every inch of his self control not to roll his eyes because his father doesn’t like it. “Why don’t you, you know,” Nozomu starts casually. “Look at the door instead of your phone when you’re knocking it? And you know, pay attention to the door opening or something.”

“Nozomu,” his father scolds gently. “But I see that you’re getting better now so that’s a relief. Your mother and sister are downstairs. Do you want me to call them up?”

“It’s okay,” Nozomu answers too quickly, earning him a suspicious look from his father but he avoids his father’s gaze and chooses to focus on his nose instead.

“Okay.” His father doesn’t sound very convinced. “So will you be going to work? Akito’s been worried you know.”

“I’ll see them at dinner tonight.” There’s a bit of hope in Nozomu’s heart that his father would drop the topic of his supposedly suspicious behaviour. And thankfully for him, his father nods in understanding. “And yeah, I’m going to work. I was just about to get up.” He gestures to his back, using his thumb to point at the strewed out futon on the floor though his father isn’t able to see anything.

His father wants to say something but at that moment, Nozomu’s sister calls for their father from downstairs telling him that it is time to go.

“Coming,” his father shouts back before turning his attention onto Nozomu again. “Take care, son.”

Nozomu waves his father goodbye and proceeds to shut the door. He looks at Ryusei still nestled snugly in the comforters and starts to have second thoughts about going to work because Ryusei would probably be shocked when he wakes up and finds Nozomu gone. Maybe Ryusei would leave his room to walk around the house to look for him and that would be fine because no one else would be at home. But if Ryusei decides to leave the house, then that would be a problem. Nozomu feels an oncoming headache and he swears that it is too early to be worrying so much.

After weighing his options for a little while longer, he grabs his phone from the bedside table and sends Akito a text to inform him that he would be working today. A reply comes quickly in the form of a thumbs up and a smiling emoji. He spares Ryusei one last glance.

When Nozomu walks out of the bathroom, dressed in a new set of fresh clothes, Ryusei is still sleeping. It appears that Ryusei hasn’t even moved a single bit from when he last shifted, and Nozomu wonders how tired Ryusei is because with all the noise Nozomu made, surely Ryusei would be awake by now. Unless Ryusei is a heavy sleeper but Nozomu doesn’t know how shooting stars actually work so he stops guessing.

Actually, Nozomu _does_ know how shooting star works. August is almost coming to an end so that naturally means that the Perseids aren’t so active anymore, meaning that they don’t come out as often anymore, and the numbers have definitely dwindled from their peak. So that explains Ryusei’s sleeping hours.

Still, Nozomu thinks he should leave a note to let Ryusei know where he is going. Not that he thinks Ryusei would know what work means but at least he would know that Nozomu is gone for a reason.

He scribbles down _I’ll be back before dinner_ and _stay in the room at all times, please_ right under the previous line on a blue post-it before sticking it on the top of his desk. As he is about to leave the room, the thought that Ryusei might not see the note there strikes him so he removes the post-it from the table top to stick it on the wall above his bed’s headboard instead.

Then he looks down at Ryusei and decides to stick the post-it on the other’s forehead instead. This way, Ryusei would definitely see it.

“I’ll be back before dinner,” Nozomu reads out the top line and starts laughing at the post-it on Ryusei’s forehead.

Nozomu turns the lights off but he leaves the fan on before he leaves the room. He doesn’t notice that Ryusei’s glow has gotten, albeit a little, dimmer.

 

 

“Haven’t seen you in days,” Akito greets Nozomu from behind the cashier when he spies the latter walking in, looking ruffled and out of breath. “Had a fun walk in the rain?”

“A painful run from the rain, you mean?” Nozomu says dryly as he shoves Akito aside to dump his bag in the cupboard under the counter. Akito snorts before pushing Nozomu away once he closes the cupboard’s door. “That’s no way to treat someone sick,” Nozomu feigns hurt and doesn’t even bat an eyelid as he lies through his teeth easily.

“You weren’t really sick right?” Akito jokes but Nozomu feels his blood freezing in his veins as he tenses up. “You were just being some love sick idiot over the meteor showers right?”

At that, Nozomu relaxes considerably. He offers Akito a stiff smile when the older guy turns to face him. “Kind of. So technically, I was still sick.”

“Whatever you say,” Akito gives in kindly with a wide smile on his face. “You’ll have to make up for not working the past few days though. I had been working nonstop when you weren’t around!”

“I’m flattered to know how important I am in your life,” Nozomu muses. “But I don’t think you’ll get many customers today though.” He gestures to the pouring rain outside from the glass window as insistent heavy droplets patter onto the asphalt ground of the road.

The response Akito gives him doesn’t come as a surprise because Nozomu is already holding his hands out in front of his face, ready to catch anything Akito throws his way, when a wet white rag is thrown in his direction. He catches it with ease and goes over to the furthest table from the counter to start wiping the table even before Akito tells him to.

“Clean the tables,” Akito instructs anyway and laughs when he sees Nozomu diligently cleaning the tables. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Nozomu hums a tune as he mops the already polished and squeaky clean tabletops.

 

 

There aren’t many customers for the day like Nozomu had said and Akito jokingly blames Nozomu for jinxing it. So Nozomu offers to make it up by closing up the shop and washing more dishes which Akito happily agrees to.

“So what are you doing for the rest of summer?” Akito asks after he’s done with the last dish in his stack. He leans against the wall next to sink as he watches Nozomu scrub the dishes till they’re flawlessly clean.

“Erm,” Nozomu starts and his tongue darts out to wet his lips because he doesn’t really have any plans for the rest of summer besides working part time for Akito, hanging out with Kamiyama and Sho and studying for a bit. He tries to think of something, anything to tell Akito like the name of some enrichment program but he isn’t good at coming up with names so it wouldn’t sound believable. _Quick, quick, quick, quick, Nozomu, quick_ , he starts chanting in his mind because if he says he has nothing on then Akito would give him a free enrichment course of ‘useful things you should be doing during your summer holidays and not wasting them away’ like he does every year. But Nozomu really can’t think of anything to say, so he settles with being truthful for now. “Not re – ”

Akito doesn’t hear him because he’s starting to talk again. “Any exchange programs? You going anywhere? Anyone coming over?”

And Nozomu thinks he’s saved until his answer slips out of his mouth before he even processes what he wants to say. “Yeah, I signed up for a program where an exchange student will be staying over at my house.” 

Nozomu doesn’t really have any plans for the rest of summer besides working part time for Akito, hanging out with Kamiyama and Sho and studying for a bit _and_ keeping an eye out for Ryusei.

“Oh cool,” Akito comments as he pushes himself off the wall to go over to the refrigerator. “How long is it going to last?”

If Nozomu is going to lie, he might as well go through with the story he thought about yesterday. Even though he still hasn’t figured out how to explain Ryusei glowing, he believes he’ll find a way somehow. And suddenly, telling everyone that Ryusei used to eat glow sticks seems like a very appealing idea to Nozomu now.

“Six months or so, depending on what the student signed up for?” Nozomu doesn’t stop scrubbing the dishes as he replies Akito. He turns on the tap and runs the soapy plate under the water, focusing on the way the water splashes off the porcelain surface once it hits it.

Akito stops rummaging through the refrigerator to look at Nozomu with suspecting eyes. “Six months? And a home stay on top of that?”

“New program,” Nozomu lies as he turns off the tap and places the plate on a drying rack. “For the Astronomy faculty.”

It appears that Akito doesn’t really quite believe Nozomu because he spends another good five minutes or so scrutinising the younger boy with dubious eyes before turning back to the refrigerator. “When is he or she coming over?”

“In a week.” And Nozomu has to applaud himself for coming up with such plausible information as if they were real.

“So you’ll stop working then?”

The question makes Nozomu falter a little but he regains his composure and starts racking his brain to give a suitable answer but he comes up with none that would work. Though he really needs to work because he needs the money for a new telescope he’s been eyeing recently, it is more to do with him enjoying the job and Akito’s company as much as he would never admit it. But Ryusei. Nozomu thinks he needs to create a list of instances when Ryusei ruins some parts of his life.

“Yes, I can’t work then,” Nozomu replies finally and Akito simply shrugs, making Nozomu feel guiltier than ever as he feels bile rising up his throat.

“Thanks for telling me in advance though,” Akito tells him nicely and it makes Nozomu feel worse because Akito is so kind. “So that I can put up flyers for someone to help me out here.” He finishes it with a too-wide grin, showing off his top row of pearly white teeth and Nozomu thinks he would be blinded if he hadn’t been looking at a glowing shooting star for the past few days.

“One week is alright?” Nozomu asks unsurely because he really feels bad about doing this to Akito.

“Sort of.” Akito waves his hand to tell Nozomu not to worry. “It’ll be easy to get someone to help me. My café is, after all, one of the best.” He adds a wink at the end and Nozomu pretends to vomit into the sink, earning himself a dirty dishcloth flying his way which he dodges it with practised ease.

When Nozomu places the last plate on the drying rack, he starts feeling an uneasy sort of nervousness swallowing him whole. Now that he has nothing to busy himself with, he has to face Akito while trying to come up with white lies on the spot.

“Want to make something for your friend who’s coming?” And Nozomu feels a wave of relief washing over him because Akito isn’t going to pry more about the ‘exchange’. “Star cookies?”

Nozomu thinks about Ryusei, probably awake for hours by now and feeling lonely, messing everything up in his room. He doesn’t bother correcting Akito that it’s ‘shooting star cookies’ he has been baking and nods as he takes a mixing bowl from the rack. Stars and shooting stars are not the same, or so Nozomu has learnt.

 

 

“Not bad,” Akito compliments after dipping his finger in the batter to check its texture. He doesn’t have to touch the batter to know but he does it anyway just to spite Nozomu but the younger one doesn’t seem affected and merely continues to stir the mix, ignoring how the spatula is hitting Akito’s finger.

The older of the two pulls his finger out of the sticky batter to taste it while he glares at Nozomu who simply smiles. Nozomu stops stirring and turns to face Akito. “So, how is it?”

Akito hums in approval around his finger and Nozomu grins in glee before going back to stirring the batter.

“Tell me more about the exchange student,” Akito starts to pass time while Nozomu mixes the batter. “School, state, name and all that stuff.”

“Well,” Nozomu begins, not really sure what to say because the exchange isn’t even going to happen. “I don’t know much yet. A few schools signed up for this program so I don’t really know the details until the student actually comes.” He tries to sound as convincing as possible and he thinks he has succeeded because Akito nods and doesn’t ask any more questions.

Some sort of awkward silence settles between them after some time. But Akito looks relaxed leaning against the table and he occasionally checks on Nozomu’s batter so the younger of the two thinks it’s his own guilty conscience prickling.

Subconsciously, Nozomu starts wondering how Ryusei is doing back in his room. Sleeping? Has he eaten at all? Is he messing around Nozomu’s room? Breaking his doorknob or drawer? Is he trying to find a shirt which fits him because everything has been too big for him so far?

Is Ryusei thinking about Nozomu? Does he miss him?

“Nozomu,” Akito calls out and Nozomu snaps out of his thoughts. “Stop smiling creepily to yourself and start lining the tray will you.” It’s more of a command than asking politely but Nozomu laughs and lines the tray with baking paper anyway before placing his shooting star shaped cookies above them.

They pass time talking about confectioneries and planets, pastries and the stars, ganache, fillings and the Milky Way.

 

 

“Not bad,” Akito tells Nozomu for the second time that day and Nozomu beams proudly, soaking up all the praises. “Alright, it’s getting late. Let’s pack up and you bring these home,” Akito says as he gestures to the tray of mint chocolate chip cookies.

Not knowing why, as Nozomu packs the cookies in clear plastic bags, his mind drifts off, back to home where there’s a shooting star with sunny golden hair and silvery gold orbs (probably) waiting for him. He imagines the glow on the other’s face upon seeing the cookies but he worries that it might bring back memories of his family as well (because shooting star shaped cookies). He thinks about Ryusei’s uncoordinated limbs, how he’s clueless about everything and his sleeping face and concludes that he doesn’t have to think so much after all.

 

 

Nozomu gets home just in time for dinner. The first thing he sees when he walks into the house is his sister setting up the dinner table for four and he feels an odd rush of warmth. “Hey, I’m home,” he announces, drawing attention over to himself. “Is dinner ready?”

“Help me set the table up, you brat,” his sister chides playfully and pulls him into a hug when he makes his way over to her. “Don’t you fall sick again.” And from her tone, Nozomu knows how much she misses him.

Other families might find it queer for his sister to miss him so much since it’s only been less than a week but for their family, it’s as normal as the sun rising every day. Because they are an extremely tight knit family and Nozomu is certainly proud of that fact. It’s also something he constantly boasts about to his friends and strangers alike.

For a while, Nozomu forgets about Ryusei in his room until his mother asks him about why his room is locked.

“Yeah, why is it locked?” His father asks. “Are you hiding some secret in there?” 

Though his father is obviously joking about Nozomu having some sort of secret, Nozomu chokes on his rice because he _is_ somewhat keeping a secret in there. A very big secret even.

He’s spared from answering – although his father doesn’t really expect an answer in the first place – when his mother starts asking him about his day at work. So he happily tells her about Akito complaining about him not being there for the past few days and how he’s not going to be working there the next week because of an ‘exchange program’ he had signed up for.

It doesn’t really occur to him that he has just stepped on a landmine.

“Exchange?” His sister sounds surprised. “You never said anything about an exchange before.”

“I forgot about it,” Nozomu mutters and proceeds to stuff his mouth with food which earns him a dissatisfied look from his mother which he casually ignores by looking everywhere else but her. 

Naturally, his family starts prying for more details and he repeats the same made-up story he had told Akito earlier on in the day and the guilt starts to manifest. The talk ends with his sister asking where the exchange student would be sleeping because their guest room is full of junk that needs to be cleared out and Nozomu’s mouth going dry as he weakly replies, “My room.”

Nozomu hasn’t found a way to explain why Ryusei glows and at that moment, the glow stick story seems to be his best option. But no, it is ridiculous and unbelievable and he’ll have to tell everyone the truth which might get him sent for counselling.

To his sister, it might be _don’t fall sick again_ , but to Nozomu, it’s more like _dear shooting star, please don’t fall into my room again._

 

 

When Nozomu enters his room, he’s expecting Ryusei to jump onto him like some overly excited puppy (he needs to stop the puppy referencing but he can’t help how the other resembles a poodle so much sometimes and his wavy hair isn’t helping). But he doesn’t feel any form of impact knocking the air out of him when he enters the room. The only light source from his room now is from the broken window (which he needs to get fixed soon) and he isn’t able to see much. So he turns on the light with the expectation of seeing a huge mess with clothes and stationeries strewed all across his room. But that isn’t the sight he is greeted with once the lights flicker on. What he sees instead is his room in the exact same condition he had left it the morning.

Nothing’s out of place and it certainly looks like no one has been in his room the past few hours. Nozomu looks at the lump on his bed and wonders if Ryusei has woken up at all. His suspicion is confirmed when he pads over and finds the blue post it still stuck on the other’s forehead.

_I’ll be back before dinner._

Nozomu isn’t sure if he feels guilty about not actually making it back to the room before dinner or if it’s because of how he keeps thinking about how much trouble Ryusei has caused him so far. He thinks it’s the latter as he watches Ryusei turn and the post it falls off, landing on the bed at the side of his face.

As Nozomu continues watching Ryusei, he notices how faint the other’s glow is and starts to panic a little. “Ryusei?” Nozomu calls out gently.

And all he gets as a response is Ryusei opening his eyes slightly, squinting and Nozomu spots a faint shade of gold before it disappears immediately when Ryusei shuts his eyes. Nozomu lets a breath he hasn’t realised he had been holding.

“Never stop glowing,” Nozomu whispers.

 

 

 _It’s okay_ , Nozomu has been thinking for the past five days when Ryusei hasn’t even so much as bat an eyelid and remain asleep through the days. He has convinced himself that there is nothing to worry about because Ryusei has said so before that he could sleep for days or months and it has only been five days since Ryusei had last woken up.

But today is different. Today, Nozomu thinks it’s _not_ okay. Today, Nozomu panics. Today, Nozomu is going wake Ryusei up no matter what because today is day the exchange student is supposed to arrive.

Waking Ryusei up, however, is proving to be a difficult task as Nozomu struggles to even make the other move without personally manhandling him. The first thing Nozomu notices when he pushes Ryusei’s shoulder is how warm the other is. He isn’t looking at Ryusei but he knows the other is far from waking up when he shoves the other roughly but is met with no resistance.

“Ryusei, I swear to – ”

Before Nozomu completes his sentence, he cuts himself off because the first thing he notices when he finally looks at Ryusei is how the other is completely not glowing at all. He wants to do something so he panics.

“Crap crap crap no no no no no,” Nozomu chants repeatedly as he taps Ryusei’s arm forcefully “Wake up, don’t die on me, Ryusei.”

When he doesn’t get a response within the next five seconds, he contemplates pushing the other off his bed. And he does push the other off with one hard push when he doesn’t get a response in the next five seconds. The response he’s wanted to hear comes in the form of a groan followed by a small whine and finally, _Nozomu_.

“Ryusei, you’re not dead?” Nozomu calls out, not bothering about the fact that the other is currently lying on the floor, wrapped in his comforters.

“It’s too early,” Ryusei whines but Nozomu ignores him as he makes his way over to the bundle of lump on the floor. “It’s morning right?”

“What happened to day time shooting stars?” There is a cheeky tone in Nozomu’s voice and it causes Ryusei to frown a little even with his eyes closed.

“They don’t exist,” comes Ryusei’s quick but simple answer and Nozomu doesn’t know why but the answer makes a small knot tie in his stomach. “Let me sleep.”

“You’re not glowing anymore,” Nozomu decides to blurt out.

Now that has a reaction from Ryusei. A major reaction in fact because Ryusei’s eyes fly open instantly and he jolts up from the bed, causing his head to spin from the swift motion. When he turns to his left to look up at Nozomu, the latter sees a spark of silvery gold in Ryusei’s eyes before the colour vanishes and is replaced by a shade of light chestnut brown. 

“Your eyes,” Nozomu manages weakly as he feels his mouth turning dry. Though Nozomu knows that Ryusei is still definitely alive, the lack of glow around the other and how his eyes aren’t sparkly and silvery gold anymore scares him. “They’re brown.”

That gets Ryusei jumping onto his feet and sprinting to the nearest mirror next to Nozomu’s wardrobe as quickly as possible. Ryusei stares into the mirror for a while, looking shocked and a little scared before he starts pinching his face and pulling his hair, which are gradually turning a darker shade of gold by the second.

All Nozomu does is gape because for the first time ever since he has met Ryusei, the other looks so incredibly human that Nozomu cannot wrap his mind around it. Ryusei is not glowing anymore. Ryusei has light chestnut brown eyes and his hair isn’t dazzling gold anymore but more vanilla blonde. It reminds Nozomu of how attractive the other is again and Nozomu has to bite his lips to prevent himself from saying anything stupid.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei whines. “What’s happening?” He sounds frantic and keeps looking from the mirror to Nozomu, not realising that Nozomu is standing at a place where his reflection is in the mirror as well.

“I don’t know,” Nozomu blurts out nervously because he honestly has no clue and Ryusei looks very human. “I really don’t know but,” he pauses and Ryusei looks at him expectantly. “At least now my plan works?” He finishes it with a sloppy grin causing Ryusei to scowl.

It’s then Nozomu realises how much he has missed Ryusei for the past few days and no matter how much trouble Ryusei has caused him, he doesn’t want the other to leave. Not knowing when and not knowing how, Ryusei has made a permanent residence in Nozomu’s heart and the latter doesn’t want him gone. Ever.

“So what now?” Ryusei asks, shoulders slouched in defeat and he looks tried despite having slept for five days straight. “What am I?”

“You meet my family members tonight as the new exchange student,” Nozomu explains simply and Ryusei makes a pitiful noise. “Don’t worry.”

Ryusei blinks at him once, twice and Nozomu wills his heart to stop pounding so fast.

“Just follow my lead.”

A reply doesn’t come and Nozomu frowns. But before he can say anything else, Ryusei starts talking. “Can I go back to sleep now?”

An exasperated sound leaves Nozomu’s lips but he walks over to Ryusei and proceeds to push the other towards his bed. “I’ll wake you up later.” Ryusei makes a contented noise before diving under the covers.

 

 

“This is Ryusei,” Nozomu introduces Ryusei happily to his family. When Ryusei doesn’t bow, Nozomu side eyes him but naturally, Ryusei doesn’t get the hint. So Nozomu snakes his arm behind Ryusei’s back and nudges it gently. Only then does Ryusei bow, though he looks confused. 

Something about the whole situation is obviously not right so Nozomu doesn’t dare to look at his family member’s faces as he continues his introduction of Ryusei. “He’s from the University of Tokyo. He’s twenty four but he’s in the same year as me because he took a few years off school for a while.”

“Wha – ”

Nozomu steps on Ryusei’s feet. “Yes,” Ryusei corrects himself immediately and turns to smile at Nozomu who laughs dryly.

He’s so dead.

“Todai eh?” His father muses while looking at Ryusei from head to toe causing the other to squirm. When Nozomu notices Ryusei fidgeting, he pulls on the other’s pinky making him jump in surprise. And Nozomu finally catches his family’s expressions. Not good.

 

 

Dinner doesn’t turn out as bad as Nozomu expects it to until his family members start asking obligatory questions you would ask someone doing a home stay. Except that Nozomu doesn’t really find them obligatory at all because it isn’t a real, legit home stay. Not that his family members know so he doesn’t stop them from asking. More like, he can’t stop them from asking.

“So Ryusei, how many people do you have in your family?” Nozomu’s mother starts, offering Ryusei an extremely sweet smile which Nozomu thinks might frighten the other but it doesn’t because Ryusei doesn’t jump or fly out of the chair.

Suddenly, Nozomu remembers how sad Ryusei was when he mentioned his family so he tries to come up with an excuse to explain that Ryusei doesn’t really like to talk about his family or anything. It turns out okay though because Ryusei answers normally, shocking Nozomu.

“Four!” Ryusei answers excitedly and Nozomu wonders where all the sleepiness had gone. “My parents and I have two younger sisters.”

“Oh.” Nozomu’s sister sounds interested and Nozomu prays very hard for his sister not to ask something which would throw Ryusei off. His prayer doesn’t come true because the next question his sister throws out causes Ryusei to become speechless. “How old are they?”

The question throws Ryusei off and he stares blankly at Nozomu’s sister, blinking at her as if he doesn’t understand the question. Seeing that, Nozomu’s sister laughs heartily before she changes her question. “What are your sisters doing now?”

Ryusei turns to Nozomu for help, causing Nozomu to promptly choke on his rice. “The older one is taking a few years off like Ryusei before going to University. So she’s on a road trip now and his youngest sister is graduating from high school this year,” Nozomu manages to say and it takes a few beats before Ryusei is nodding.

“You sure know a lot,” his sister muses with an eyebrow raised, making Nozomu feel jittery all over because he never has been good at lying to his sister.

“We talked a lot,” Nozomu explains weakly and he starts to thank the heaven when his sister lets it rest.

The next question from Nozomu’s mother isn’t any better either because she asks Ryusei, “What do your parents do?” Though Nozomu is thankful that she ignored the fact that Ryusei doesn’t know his sisters’ ages and what they are doing now, he certainly does not appreciate this question.

“They’re working for NASA,” Nozomu answers swiftly for Ryusei, earning himself a stern look from his father.

“Let him answer, Nozomu,” his father chides.

“But he’s really shy,” Nozomu clarifies quickly before turning to Ryusei for ‘confirmation’. “Right?” And Ryusei nods immediately this time and Nozomu feels a wave of relief crashing over him.

“Is that why you’re called Ryusei? Because your parents work for NASA?” Nozomu’s sister jokes.

It makes Ryusei frown. Nozomu is guessing that he doesn’t know what NASA is (obviously not) but he plans on telling him later so all he can do now is hope that Ryusei won’t ask what NASA is. Ryusei doesn’t but he asks something equally, if not more ridiculous than that. “Then why is Nozomu called Nozomu?”

His family members stare at Ryusei, all of them having a shell shocked expression on their faces. And at that moment, Nozomu wants to bury his face in his bowl of rice and never look at his family members ever again.

 

 

The weirdness of everything Ryusei fades away as soon as the questions stop coming and Nozomu has never felt so glad in his life before. But the questions start again as soon as it stops, forming a pool of dread in Nozomu’s stomach.

“How long is this exchange?” Nozomu’s father asks and Nozomu wants to reply but Ryusei beats him to it.

“Six months or longer,” Ryusei simply replies.

“Or longer?” His father sounds confused and again, Nozomu wants to answer him because he doesn’t want Ryusei to say anything weird. And again, Ryusei answers before he can even open his mouth.

 _Shooting star_ , Nozomu has to remind himself.

“I can go back later if I’m allowed to stay longer,” Ryusei explains before turning to Nozomu for confirmation who nods slowly. “Can I stay longer if I want to?”

It’s Nozomu’s mother who answers Ryusei because Nozomu finds himself having a loss for words. “Of course, dear. Of course you can.”

And Ryusei smiles so brightly that Nozomu thinks the other is starting to glow again. But he knows Ryusei isn’t glowing because his family isn’t freaking out over any abnormal occurrence. He doesn’t actually see a bright aura surrounding Ryusei but in his mind, Ryusei is always glowing. After all, Ryusei _is_ shooting star.

 

 

At least now Ryusei doesn’t have to be coped up in Nozomu’s room all day. But now, Nozomu has to explain more human objects to Ryusei and watch the latter jam every electric appliance in the house. Also, he has to replace every broken item before his family members come home every day. After replacing over dozens of utensils and a few juice makers, he decides to buy more and stock them in his room.

“What’s this?” Ryusei asks as he stares at the oven in awe. He then proceeds to open its door and Nozomu actually shrieks causing Ryusei to slam it shut before backing away from it. “Is it dangerous?”

“It’s an oven,” Nozomu says and makes his way over to the oven to check if Ryusei has spoilt the door or something. “Please don’t touch it.”

His worry goes unheard as Ryusei is already walking over to the stove and poking it. “Then what is this?”

“A stove.” Nozomu takes in deep breaths before pulling Ryusei away from the stove. “The kitchen is a dangerous place so let’s not come in here anymore okay?”

“The kitchen?”

“Kitchen,” Nozomu explains while gesturing to the area. “You cook here and get food here.”

Apparently, Ryusei only catches on to things he understands. “Food?” So Nozomu doesn’t bother explaining any further because if Ryusei understands at least one word, it usually means that it’s okay not to say anything more.

“Let’s go.” Having said that, Nozomu takes Ryusei’s hand into his own before pulling him into the living room and sitting him down on the couch. “What do you want to do?” Nozomu is looking down at Ryusei who’s staring back at him with big brown eyes and Nozomu’s mind is torn between screaming human or poodle.

“What can we do?” Ryusei asks in return.

“You want to go out?” Nozomu suggests and he’s really hoping that Ryusei would agree to it because he really needs some fresh air and how troublesome can it be to bring Ryusei out anyway? Anything beats staying at home all day and night watching Ryusei destroy his house.

“Out?” Ryusei points at the glass window and Nozomu nods.

“Out,” Nozomu echoes. “Now firstly,” he continues while eyeing Ryusei currently in his jumper and pants (it’s a miracle no one has noticed that Ryusei is wearing Nozomu’s old clothes yet). “We need to get you new clothes.”

 

 

Taking Ryusei out to a mall proves to be a difficult task because Ryusei doesn’t apologise when he bumps into someone and he flinches at the slightest contact with anyone.

“Ryusei,” Nozomu says in exasperation for the nth time when Ryusei squeaks because a stranger just brushed past his arm. He looks around and seeing how crowded the place is, he drags Ryusei to a corner. “You got to act like a human remember?”

Ryusei splutters. “But I don’t know how to!”

“Learn!” Nozomu raises his voice slightly but Ryusei doesn’t flinch one bit.

“Teach me!” Ryusei demands indignantly with his arms crossed over his chest and Nozomu can’t believe he has forgotten how difficult the other could be at times.

So Nozomu teaches Ryusei. “When you bump into people, say sorry. When someone brushes past you, don’t flinch.” He frowns. “Why are you okay with me touching you?”

“Because I’m used to it,” Ryusei says flatly and Nozomu thinks he doesn’t want to know how human shooting stars work anymore.

The situation at the mall doesn’t get any better because Ryusei almost changes outside a dressing room until Nozomu pushes him in. So they’re both stuck in the dressing room together because Nozomu has to make sure that Ryusei won’t suddenly open the door in the midst of changing his pants. He tries to ignore the shocked gasps coming from outside the dressing room.

When Ryusei starts eating, he doesn’t stop, or that’s what Nozomu learns after watching Ryusei finish his sixth bowl of ramen.

And Ryusei asks so normally, “can I have another bowl?” that Nozomu wants to buy him another bowl until he thinks about how empty his wallet already is. So he grits out _no_ instead and drags Ryusei out of the shop, ignoring the stares they are receiving from the other patrons.

They walk past a shop selling telescopes and maps of the galaxy and Nozomu tells himself not to go in but it’s Ryusei who’s dragging him in. In a shop like that, Nozomu can’t really be bothered about Ryusei. So he subconsciously separates from Ryusei in favour of admiring the telescopes.

Only when he realises that Ryusei isn’t by his side anymore does he panic. He stops fawning over the telescopes in his heart and starts looking for Ryusei.

“My home is near this planet!”

The all too familiar sounding voice freezes Nozomu to the spot before he uproots himself from the ground and goes to the source of the voice. There he finds Ryusei talking to the shop keeper animatedly telling him all about Perseids. Instead of looking surprised or freaked out, the shop keeper actually looks impressed with Ryusei’s knowledge and he simply laughs when Ryusei talks about his home.

Still, Nozomu doesn’t want to risk Ryusei saying anything weirder than he has so he goes over and apologises for interrupting their conversation before pulling Ryusei away.

“What did you tell him?” Nozomu asks, trying his best not to sound annoyed.

“That I am a shooting star.”

Nozomu’s too tired to scold Ryusei so he drags Ryusei out of the mall instead and mutters _we’re going back now_ , ignoring all of Ryusei’s protest.

When they reach Nozomu’s house, Nozomu finally checks his wallet and nearly faints at the sight of all his money gone. He looks at the bags of clothes in Ryusei’s and his hands before assuring himself that it is worth it. It saves him all the trouble of explaining the truth.

 

 

Night time comes and Ryusei doesn’t show any sign of wanting to sleep or being sleepy at all. Nozomu wants to throw him out the broken window.

“Sleep,” Nozomu commands in his most authoritative voice ever while pointing at Ryusei. “I mean it.” He really does because it’s almost 3 am and he hasn’t slept a wink because Ryusei keeps talking to him.

“Okay,” Ryusei whispers. But two seconds later, he starts asking Nozomu more about Earth and Nozomu doesn’t get any sleep that night.

Though Nozomu doesn’t fall asleep when daylight comes and Ryusei finally goes to sleep because his body clock doesn’t allow him to sleep at this time in the day. He grumbles and curses though nothing can be done.

The first thing Ryusei says when he wakes up is _bring me out again_ and Nozomu thinks he must have been drugged out of his mind because he agrees to it and brings Ryusei to a park this time.

At a park, Nozomu thinks, Ryusei can’t do much except walk and sit on a bench.

But Nozomu is proven wrong because at the park, Ryusei points at the sun’s reflection in the pond and shouts _shooting star_ for everyone nearby to hear and it’s embarrassing. When Ryusei opens his mouth, wanting to say something else, he feels someone’s gaze on him so he turns to that person instead. “Stop staring at me.”

Nozomu apologises before dragging Ryusei away. “You can’t go around telling people that.”

“Why not?” Ryusei asks, irritated. “People don’t stare at shooting – ”

“Human,” Nozomu corrects. “Human, Ryusei. You’re a human now and other humans stare at attractive humans.” He clamps his mouth shut with his hand as soon as he realises what he said because he had just admitted that Ryusei is attractive aloud.

“What is attractive?”

Nozomu flushes. “It’s nothing.”

 _Attractive is when you smile and I can’t take my eyes of you_ , Nozomu thinks absently.

 

 

Forget about attractiveness when Nozomu’s sleeping pattern continues to get messed up for the whole of next week.

“What the fuck, Ryusei,” Nozomu shouts, glaring daggers at the other and he’s glad that his family members are all at work now. “Remember our deal? You follow my sleeping hours, not the opposite. Stop fucking up my sleep time.”

When Ryusei doesn’t say anything, Nozomu continues. “My school’s starting soon and I have work to finish before that so stop ruining everything.”

“Sorry,” Ryusei mutters, looking guiltier than ever and Nozomu starts to feel bad. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“Just don’t ruin anything else.”

What Ryusei meant by making up is helping Nozomu out with his Astronomy homework. Because Ryusei is a shooting star, Astronomy to him is like common sense. And Nozomu feels grateful for Ryusei’s help because he finishes his homework easily. But he thinks it’s the least Ryusei should do for taking up so much of his time already.

“Thanks,” Nozomu mumbles as he packs his books. “For helping out.”

Ryusei doesn’t say anything so Nozomu thinks it’s time to teach him something new. “When someone thanks you, you say ‘you’re wel – ”

“Nozomu,” Ryusei cuts him off. “Thank you for everything so far.”

It makes Nozomu forget what he wants to say so he settles with saying, “you’re welcome,” for the time being.

 

 

The night before school starts, Nozomu brings Ryusei to the small area on the rooftop of his house. He brings his smallest telescope up along with him because the bigger ones won’t be able to fit if Ryusei is there.

“What are we doing?” Ryusei asks curiously while staring at Nozomu adjusts his telescope.

“Star gazing,” Nozomu replies and Ryusei laughs as he points to himself.

“There’s a shooting star right here.”

Nozomu doesn’t say anything in reply but he smiles.

“That’s Sagittarius,” Ryusei comments while pointing to the sky. “And there’s Aries.” He points to another spot in the night sky.

“You can’t see those constellations now.”

“Yes I can,” Ryusei retorts.

It takes Nozomu a few moments to remember that Ryusei is a shooting star and not a human. An extraordinary power like super eyesight is normal, of course. 

“When can you see them then?” There’s a glint of sparkle in Ryusei’s eyes from its glassy surface reflecting the moonlight and Nozomu almost thinks that the other still has his silvery gold eyes.

“Aries is best seen in December and Sagittarius in August, last month.” Nozomu frowns. “I don’t see why I have to explain it to you.”

Ryusei only laughs. “Then what do you see today?”

Because Nozomu is an Astronomy major, he doesn’t actually have to look into his telescope to map out the constellation best seen in September. He sees it in his heart so he confidently replies, “Capricornus.”

“The goat fish!” Ryusei exclaims with a chuckle. “The triangle stars.”

The three bright stars – alpha-2 Capricorni, beta Capricorni and omega Capricorni – form a triangle, making it easy for one to spot the constellation. And Nozomu knows all of this by heart. Somehow, he feels comforted now that someone he cares about and is close to sharing the same knowledge as him. But all he can do is agree with Ryusei in a hushed whisper.

“The summer triangle,” Nozomu says as Ryusei nods while still looking up at the sky.

“I miss home,” Ryusei mutters but it’s so quiet in the night that Nozomu hears it clearly. “But I guess Earth is kind of fun too. With you around and all.” Ryusei laughs and Nozomu tries not to get distracted by the sound of his laughter resonating in the night sky, getting carried away by the wind and up to the stars.

As Ryusei continues pointing out the different constellations which belong to the Zodiac and several others scattered around them, Nozomu tries to catch up by adjusting his telescope with practiced fingers but he isn’t able to keep up. Ryusei pushes his telescope down and smiles at him. “You don’t need this thing to see them.”

And Nozomu wants to protest because he isn’t a shooting star like Ryusei is and he needs a telescope to spot these constellations. He isn’t satisfied with mere star gazing. He wants to see more.

But Ryusei shakes his head and keeps a firm hand on the telescope, preventing Nozomu from lifting it up to his eyes again. “You have me. I’ll tell you where they are.” He ends off with a sincere smile and Nozomu almost fully believes him.

Nozomu has his reservations about seeing the stars clearly without his telescope but he allows Ryusei to take the object away. He suddenly feels naked without his telescope and simply glancing up at the pitch black sky where all he can see is glimmering white dots spread out all over.

He doesn’t realise that Ryusei’s holding his hand until the latter lifts his hand up. “There’s Capricornus,” says Ryusei as he lifts both their hands and points at a single direction. “The summer triangle,” he whispers as he traces the three stars with his own and Nozomu’s finger.

Truthfully, Nozomu is unable to see anything clearly; he can’t see where the three stars forming the summer triangle is so naturally, he can’t see Capricornus at all. But years of seeing this constellation both in real life through a telescope and online, Nozomu knows how it looks like.

Visualisation is something Nozomu’s good at, or so he thinks. Because when he closes his eyes and allows Ryusei to guide his hand to wherever while he listens to Ryusei’s narration of where the constellations are, he sees it all. He sees the summer triangle, he sees Capricornus. He sees Virgo, near the Big Dipper and he sees Taurus the Bull in between Aries and Gemini.

“And there,” Ryusei whispers. “The North Star.”

Nozomu feels Ryusei’s breath fanning near the shell of his ear so he knows how near the other is to him even with his eyes closed. The knots tying quickly in his stomach tells him Ryusei being so close to him makes him feel uncomfortable but his quickened beating heart tells him he’s just nervous in a good way. And Nozomu believes in following his heart.

Even without a telescope, Nozomu now believes that he can see the constellations clearly. With Ryusei, Nozomu believes that he can see anything and everything.

When Ryusei suddenly drops Nozomu’s hand, the latter opens his eyes and turns his head to face the shooting star. It’s the first time Nozomu notices how beautiful Ryusei’s side profile is and he etches the image into his mind. He then notices Ryusei’s downcast eyes and pouty lips.

“What’s wrong?” Nozomu asks worriedly. Carefully, he raises his hand, the one which Ryusei has let dropped and reaches it out to place it on Ryusei’s shoulder. The other doesn’t react and merely stares at the sky with a despondent look. “Ryusei?”

“Can you see Perseus?” 

It’s all Ryusei says but Nozomu understands and doesn’t press on. Instead, he cups both his hands over Ryusei’s cheeks to turn the other’s head to face him. “I can’t see Perseus,” Nozomu starts. He takes in a deep breath to prepare himself to say the next line because it’s going to sound cheesy as hell. “But I can see a shooting star.”

Ryusei stares at Nozomu for a while before quirking an eyebrow. “Are you making fun of my name again?” And Nozomu snorts because this is the first time he has heard Ryusei say anything relatively witty so he deems it as an achievement of sorts.

“No,” Nozomu whispers. “You are a shooting star aren’t you? And I don’t need a telescope to see you because you’re just here, right here.”

All Ryusei does is hum and Nozomu feels a slight vibration through his fingertips. They stay in the dead silence of the night for a while before Ryusei starts speaking again. “Your fingers are cold.”

Nozomu inches closer and whispers “Are they?” He’s so close now that their noses are just millimetres apart, much like how Ryusei’s mouth was to the shell of his ear just now.

Again, all Ryusei does is hum in response. Without saying anything else, Nozomu closes the distance between their lips so Ryusei is humming against Nozomu’s lips. It’s a soft press at first but Nozomu shifts one of his hands from Ryusei’s cheek to the back of the latter’s head to further deepen the kiss.

Ryusei doesn’t kiss back but neither is he pushing away, leaving Nozomu confused so he breaks the kiss and looks into Ryusei’s eyes for any hint of emotion. The other stares back blankly.

“What was that?” Ryusei asks and Nozomu finds it unbelievable that Ryusei doesn’t know what a kiss is until his mind starts screaming _shooting star_ as if it’s instinct.

Suddenly, Nozomu wants the witty Ryusei back because he doesn’t think he can explain what a kiss is without it sounding weird and awkward and utterly rubbish. But if he thinks about it, Ryusei is weird and awkward and kind of utterly rubbish at being a human so.

“It’s a kiss,” Nozomu explains, thinking this conversation would end with that but he should know better because the conversation doesn’t end there and Nozomu remembers that Ryusei’s curiosity about humans and Earth can never be quenched. Who is he to complain though when he is such a fanatic about the Milky Way?

“What’s a kiss?”

“A kiss is,” Nozomu is at a loss for words for a while because he doesn’t have the dictionary or Wikipedia definition of a kiss memorised and he doesn’t really know how to explain what it is. “It is what I did just now.”

“Why do you do it?” Ryusei continues asking, staring at Nozomu with curious eyes. “When do you do it?”

Faced with these two questions, Nozomu doesn’t wait a beat before answering because he’s sure of the answer. “You do it to show someone you like him or her. You do it when you like someone.”

“So you like me?”

It’s such innocent questions which throw Nozomu off but he composes himself before replying. “Yes,” then he gulps because he’s not ready to admit it out loud yet but Ryusei is staring at him and he wants to say it. “I like you.”

Then Ryusei is laughing and it leaves Nozomu confused. “Nozomu,” Ryusei manages in between fits of chuckling. “I know what a kiss is.”

Nozomu splutters. “You wha – Ryusei!”

“My parents kiss me all the time, don’t be stupid,” Ryusei tells Nozomu with glistening eyes and a cheeky smile.

“I’m not being stupid. I don’t know how shooting stars work, remember?” Nozomu retorts with a scowl.

“I thought kisses are universal.” Ryusei does a big action with his hands, probably to express what the universe is through gesturing.

It prompts Nozomu to laugh dryly and let his hands fall back to his sides before he looks away, face flushed in embarrassment. “Then why did you ask that for?”

Ryusei shrugs. “I just wanted to know if humans have a different meaning or explanation for it.”

At this, Nozomu finds himself perking up in curiosity. “So do they have different meanings?” He’s expecting a simple _yes_ or no response but he gets neither because Ryusei doesn’t even answer his question directly.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei calls out instead of replying, causing Nozomu to turn with a frown on his face.

Without any warning at all, Ryusei edges closer and this time, it’s him pressing his lips against Nozomu’s. It’s rougher and more impactful than when Nozomu did it. And it catches Nozomu off guard so he simply lets Ryusei kiss him for a while before he’s kissing back and lifting one of his hands to rest it at the back of Ryusei’s neck.

When they break apart, Nozomu’s a little breathless but he attributes it more to the fact that it was Ryusei that he was kissing over how he might be lacking a little stamina (because he certainly doesn’t think so).

And Ryusei doesn’t say anything more but Nozomu is guessing that to shooting stars, kisses hold the same meaning to them as to humans. Though Nozomu thinks that Ryusei doesn’t regard the action as anything more than a simple gesture to show him how much he likes him as a friend or companion, he accepts it (for now). But – although he’ll never say it out loud – in the depths of his heart, he’s hoping that it means more, that it might mean more to Ryusei one day.

But Nozomu thinks again and falling in love with a shooting star sounds kind of ridiculous. So Nozomu has to reconsider his feelings and what he really feels about Ryusei because it is impossible for them to be together. When he looks at Ryusei, however, it seems possible. Especially with what Ryusei says next. 

“Nozomu,” Ryusei starts and Nozomu can almost swear that Ryusei is glowing again, shining like the shooting star that he is. “I like you too.”

 

 

They had fallen asleep on the rooftop and Nozomu faintly hears someone shouting to him that he’s going to be late for school, not to lead Ryusei astray and then the sound of a car’s engine rumbling before he hears the sound of tyres on the road.

With a jolt, he wakes up and Ryusei, who has been lying on his shoulder, jumps from his sleep in surprise from the impact and looks around frantically.

“Nozomu, what’s wrong?” Ryusei asks anxiously while clutching onto Nozomu’s hand tightly and the other merely laughs.

“Morning,” Nozomu greets sleepily with a lazy grin. “Nothing’s wrong. I just think,” he stops mid sentence and bites his lower lip while smiling sheepishly. “I just think I’m late for the first day of school.”

Ryusei bursts out into laughter. “Then what are you still waiting for?”

Grinning a little, Nozomu opens the latch of the door which reveals the ladder leading down from the roof and allows Ryusei to climb down first.

When he goes to school, he’ll have to explain the whole exchange student story thing to Kamiyama and Sho again because he hasn’t contacted them all summer. It isn’t like he didn’t want to but Sho had told them not to contact him because he’ll be in Nagoya with his family and didn’t want to be disturbed and Kamiyama had been busy with a part time job. So Nozomu didn’t really have the chance to contact them. With Ryusei’s appearance, it just made matters more complicated.

Nozomu sends a quick text to Kamiyama and Sho which says _I got something to tell you guys. Oh and I got someone to introduce to you guys too_. His reply comes in the form of annoying heart emojis and kissy faces before he reads the part with words.

_Boyfriendddddd?_

He locks his phone with an annoyed ‘tsk’. Explaining to them might take a really, extremely long time.

 

 

It isn’t difficult to spot Kamiyama despite how short he is because the clothes he wears are so striking that they make him stand out no matter where. Nozomu paces over, going through ways he can introduce Ryusei to Kamiyama in mind with Ryusei trailing after him.

He stops just a few tables away from Kamiyama and pulls Ryusei down into the seat. He points to Kamiyama and Ryusei looks over. “That is Kamiyama Tomohiro. He’s my best friend, kind of. I have another friend called Hirano Sho whom you’ll probably, not probably, you will meet him later. All you have to know is that they are both absolute idiots so if you don’t understand anything, don’t ask me. Chances are that I don’t understand what they’re saying either so we just let it slide okay?”

Nozomu stops talking to make sure that Ryusei can understand what he’s saying but Ryusei doesn’t show any sign of comprehending what he has just said. Actually, Ryusei isn’t even looking at him; Ryusei is looking all around the cafeteria in awe.

To gain Ryusei’s attention back, Nozomu nudges the other’s shoulder. “Ryusei, did you hear what I said?”

“Yeah,” Ryusei says without looking at Nozomu. “Kamiyama right? Anything else I need to know?” Nozomu wants to continue but Ryusei’s talking again before he starts. “There are so many people here.” His eyes are wide and his mouth is hanging open slightly.

“It’s where I study,” Nozomu explains with a grin, looking extremely proud as if he owns the place. “Are there this many people from where you came from?”

Ryusei corrects him instantly. “Shooting stars, not people. And yeah, there are lots of them near Perseus. There are lots of them all around the galaxy, you know?”

“Yeah,” Nozomu admits and smirks when Ryusei finally turns to face him. “I study the galaxy, remember?”

Ryusei grins. “Kind of.”

“Nozomu!” Someone calls from a near distance and Nozomu’s smile falters. “Didn’t you see me sitting there?”

“Well, you’re kind of short,” Nozomu simply replies as Kamiyama settles opposite him.

“But you’re kind of tall so surely you could see me?” Kamiyama shoots back quickly with a raised brow. “Besides, couldn’t you have spotted me with the clothes I’m wearing anyway? You and Sho are always commenting on how you guys would be able to spot me from miles away with my fashion.”

That is true, because Kamiyama is wearing a mix of neon green, purple and yellow with leopard prints and some really exotic pair of sneakers. But Nozomu lies anyway, “Nope, didn’t see you.”

“Sure.” Kamiyama sounds sceptical and he’s eyeing Nozomu suspiciously but he stops as soon as he notices Ryusei next to Nozomu, craning his neck to look at the campus’ cafeteria from every angle. “You must be Nozomu’s special someone.”

Nozomu snorts and looks away when he feels a blush rising to his cheeks. He doesn’t deny anything though and Kamiyama gives him a knowing smile. When Ryusei doesn’t reply and continues looking around, Kamiyama taps him on the hand lightly, causing him to jump slightly. 

Kamiyama smiles apologetically. “Are you Nozomu’s friend?”

Ryusei nods and Nozomu absently registers in his mind that Ryusei knows what a friend means. In all honesty, Nozomu doesn’t even remember what Ryusei knows and doesn’t know anymore. It’s because there are just too many differences between a human and a shooting star but there are also so many similarities that Nozomu isn’t able to keep up. He’s decided to just play along with whatever comes his way (though it has proven to be rather disastrous so far).

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Kamiyama asks in an annoying tone while wiggling his eyebrows and Nozomu makes a face at him.

“Can’t we wait for Sho to come?”

“I’m here,” a familiar voice says before said person slips into the seat next to Kamiyama. “Introduce who?” Sho’s taking on the same tone as Kamiyama and Nozomu scowls at both his friends.

They don’t stop smiling at him in a sickeningly sweet way so Nozomu rolls his eyes and gives up trying to wipe those expressions off their faces. “I signed up for an exchange.”

Simultaneous gasps come from Kamiyama and Sho but Nozomu ignores them and continues. “So he,” Nozomu gestures to Ryusei who nods his head, “is the exchange student. His name is Ryusei and he’s from Todai.”

“Cool,” Sho comments and stretches out his hand to Ryusei who shakes it slowly before letting go. “I’m Hirano Sho. You can call me Sho. I bet Nozomu didn’t tell you about us like how he didn’t tell us about you. I’m a Theatre major and that guy,” he jerks his head towards Kamiyama who gives a little wave. “That’s Kamiyama Tomohiro but you can call him Kami-chan like we all do. He’s a...” Sho frowns. “I can’t remember. What do you do again, Kami-chan?”

Kamiyama whacks Sho’s head not too lightly before smiling at Ryusei. “I’m doing Business.”

The names all sound foreign to Ryusei but he nods anyway and Nozomu sighs in relief. “I’m an Astronomy major,” Ryusei says and Kamiyama bursts out laughing while Sho nods excitedly and Nozomu mentally face palms.

“Is he an airhead like Sho?” Kamiyama asks in between his chortles.

“Sho’s worse, I swear,” Nozomu says in his most serious voice, earning him a whack in the arm from Sho. “But he’s quite bad.”

“Bad is good for you,” Kamiyama simply comments and stretches his hand out to Ryusei who takes it for another handshake. “Nice to meet you, Ryusei.”

 

 

Bringing Ryusei to school doesn’t seem like a bad idea after all as Nozomu can slack a little during lectures because Ryusei will explain some concepts to him afterwards. The difficult part is explaining to his classmates why Ryusei is there. The Astronomy faculty doesn’t have a lot of students and an exchange obviously doesn’t exist so he can’t use his usual lie. Instead, he simply tells whoever asks that Ryusei is from another faculty and he’s considering to take Astronomy. It’s a pretty believable lie considering how people don’t usually pry for more after that. And Nozomu is satisfied with this little lie because it saves him trouble, a lot of trouble.

It’s also easy because he doesn’t hang out with people from his faculty and chooses to spend his free time with Kamiyama or Sho or by himself. Now, it’s with Ryusei.

“My lessons end early today,” Nozomu tells Ryusei casually as they are walking in the hallway. “Do you want to go anywhere?”

Ryusei gives him baffled look and mutters something which Nozomu doesn’t catch so he asks Ryusei to repeat. “What’s interesting on Earth?”

A few students around them shoot them weird looks before walking off and Nozomu cringes. “You want to go to an aquarium?” Nozomu stops in his tracks to look at Ryusei with pleading eyes, practically begging the latter to just agree and not ask anything. But his message doesn’t get across.

“Aquarium?” Ryusei doesn’t stop walking until Nozomu tugs his arm to pull him back. Nozomu wants to explain what an aquarium is. There aren’t many people around so those who hear Nozomu explaining what an aquarium is they would probably just find him weird or assume that Ryusei comes from the countryside, which isn’t too much of a problem.

As Nozomu is about to start his explanation, Ryusei casually says _okay_ and smiles at Nozomu. “It’ll be fun right?”

The way Ryusei’s smiling at Nozomu now renders him speechless so he nods dumbly. He lets Ryusei drag him to some place in the school which has interesting things he saw just now but didn’t have the time to explore.

 

 

“That’s a shark,” Nozomu says from behind Ryusei when he sees the other staring at the magnificent beast of the ocean. He points at the information board and Ryusei looks over, pretending to read it but with the way he keeps glancing back to the creature in the glass tank, Nozomu knows he isn’t really reading anything.

When Nozomu is about to say more, Ryusei starts walking to another tank filled with fishes. Nozomu chuckles and follows without saying another word. He’s been to the aquarium enough times to know the layout of the place and with the way Ryusei is looking at every exhibition, they will never be done.

Because Ryusei is curious, he spends about half an hour circling each tank or walking back and forth, staring at each creature intently and tapping the glass every now and then before asking Nozomu if the glass would break. _It won’t_ , Nozomu had answered but Ryusei still taps the glass forcefully and wonders when the glass will shatter because he wants to touch the fishes.

The first time Ryusei asks Nozomu anything since they stepped into the aquarium is when they’re in front of the jellyfish tank. “Nozomu,” Ryusei calls out and pulls the other’s sleeves without looking at him because he’s too focused on the glowing fishes. “What are they?”

Nozomu smiles because he’s glad that he’s finally of use to Ryusei. “They’re jellyfishes.”

“They’re glowing,” Ryusei whispers, wide-eyed as he inches closer and closer to the tank until his nose is touching the glass and his breath is forming mist on the surface. “They look like shooting stars. Why aren’t they called shooting fishes?”

Some stranger nearby hears that and laughs before sending Nozomu a pitying glance. But Nozomu ignores the stranger and tries explaining to Ryusei instead. “Well, they’re sort of glowing fishes you know? Like glowing stars?”

Ryusei doesn’t turn around because his eyes are following one particular jellyfish. “Why not like shooting stars?”

“Aren’t they moving too slowly?” Nozomu jokes with a chuckle and moves closer to stand behind Ryusei. “Shooting stars move quickly right?”

Ryusei hums and Nozomu thinks that his explanation is accepted. Nozomu watches as Ryusei rests his hand against the glass surface and wonders if Ryusei is going to tap the glass tank with his whole palm this time and hopes that he doesn’t. And Ryusei doesn’t, but he’s spreading his fingers apart, and from between his fingers, Nozomu can see sparks of bright blue and purple.

It takes Nozomu a lot of convincing and some manhandling before he manages to coax Ryusei away from the jellyfish tank to look at the penguins because it is feeding time. With much reluctance, Ryusei allows himself to be pulled away, but only with the promise that they’ll come back again. Nozomu doesn’t really understand Ryusei’s fascination with the jellyfishes but well, if Ryusei likes them. 

The walk to the penguin’s enclosure is silent and Ryusei seems spaced out but Nozomu doesn’t ask why, just holds his hand to pull him along instead. 

At the sight of the penguins, Ryusei brightens up instantly and points to a group of them huddling in front of a bucket of fish as he coos over them. Nozomu has seen the penguin feeding time quite a number of times already so he doesn’t find it particularly special or anything. But he plays along and fakes interest when a fish enters a penguin’s mouth.

Somewhere along Ryusei’s fingertips brushing along Nozomu’s and Ryusei’s laughter resonating in his mind, Nozomu’s fake interest turns genuine and the feeling of being at the aquarium many times before turns into the feeling of visiting the place for the first time ever. Everything starts to appear new, fresh and interesting.

With Ryusei, nothing seems to be boring and it always feels like the first time. Not because it really is Ryusei’s first time doing most things but it’s because of the way Ryusei makes him feel. It feels like happiness. Not the kind of happiness and adrenaline he gets when he does stupid things with Kamiyama and Sho. Not the kind of happiness and warmth he gets when he’s having a family outing at a park. Not the kind of happiness when he’s star-gazing. But it’s more like the happiness of receiving thanks from a stranger or the first taste of cinnamon in a cup of latte. It’s more like the simple happiness Nozomu finds in life daily.

It’s more like the kind of happiness only Ryusei can give him.

Halfway through looking at sea otters, Nozomu excuses himself to the toilet because Ryusei’s unintentional fingers and arm brushing is driving Nozomu insane. He splashes cold water onto his face. “This isn’t a date,” he tells himself but Ryusei’s smile is etched onto his mind and he thinks he’s so gone.

When he goes back to where he had left Ryusei, the other isn’t there anymore and a surge of panic arises in him. His first instinct is to pull his phone out to call the other but when he goes through his contact list, he realises that Ryusei doesn’t have a phone. So he looks around frantically for a while before he starts approaching strangers and giving them a very vague description of Ryusei; _Tall and blonde_ , because he doesn’t remember what the other is wearing.

After an hour of running around the aquarium aimlessly and asking couples and parents the same question over and over again, Nozomu contemplates asking the staff to make an announcement about a lost child. But Ryusei isn’t a child and it will be awkward in every way when an adult male turns up at the information counter, though Ryusei probably wouldn’t even know how to go to the information counter. Making a report or an announcement is out of the question.

So he continues scouting the area, revisiting the places they have went to and going to new areas they haven’t gone to yet. Still, he doesn’t find Ryusei anywhere. Then a thought strikes him as to where Ryusei might be. He places all his hopes on Ryusei being at that one place and he misses the announcement that the aquarium would be closing soon and doesn’t realise that he’s been looking for Ryusei for nearly three hours.

At where the jellyfish tanks are, Nozomu finds a few couples leaving the area and some group of friends walking past. In front of the huge cylinder glass tank, he finds Ryusei squatting there with his face pressed against the glass as he fingers are tapping against the glass in a steady beat.

Nozomu is torn between shouting at Ryusei for running off on his own and pulling the other into a bone crushing hug because he’s been so worried. He doesn’t do either but he squats next to Ryusei and doesn’t say anything when the other doesn’t acknowledge his presence. So he looks into the tank and watches the jellyfishes swim around.

“How do you think they feel?” Ryusei asks, his voice overlapping with an announcement being made that moment but Nozomu hears him clearly. “They’re always trapped inside here.”

“They probably feel suffocated,” Nozomu answers without really thinking. He cannot believe that he’s having a conversation on how jellyfishes are feeling. “They used to be from the ocean you know?”

“The ocean?”

“Yeah, the ocean,” Nozomu repeats. “The ocean is a vast expanse of water. It’s deep and stretches over the horizons. It’s huge and the jellyfishes come from there so now that they’re stuck in this tank, they probably feel suffocated. But they move so slowly anyway so I don’t think it affects them that much.”

Ryusei’s tapping against the glass tank slows down but he still doesn’t turn to face Nozomu. “Does it have an end? The ocean I mean.”

“Of course it does. I just don’t know where the end is. There are many oceans out there,” Nozomu says as he gestures with his hands. “And they each have an end. Everything has an end.”

Finally, Ryusei turns to face Nozomu and the latter knows because he sees it in the reflection in the glass. “The sky doesn’t have an end. It’s boundless.”

“Limitless,” Nozomu adds on before turning slowly to face Ryusei. 

It’s like his instincts take over him that moment because the next second, he’s leaning in towards Ryusei before he even registers what he’s doing. He’s moving nearer, nearer, nearer but Ryusei isn’t moving away so he takes it as a sign that he can seal their lips together. As soon as Ryusei shuts his eyes, Nozomu presses their lips together and closes his eyes shut as well.

The kiss isn’t like their first one – soft, slow and gentle. This one is rougher, more aggressive, as if there is some sort of urgency in it. Nozomu opens his eyes a little and from the corner of his eye, he can see Ryusei’s hand pressed against the tank of the jellyfishes. From the other corner of his eye, he can see the shaky reflection of the jellyfishes on the carpeted floor.

Nozomu ignores the announcement that the aquarium is closing in half an hour and closes his eyes again. He parts his lips when he feels Ryusei’s tongue skirting along the seam of it. He doesn’t realise that he’s intertwining his fingers with Ryusei’s free hand until Ryusei grips down tightly at the same time he deepens the kiss.

 

 

As autumn goes by, the wind grows chillier, the oak trees exude a more vibrant hue and fallen leaves continue to be crunched under footsteps. The auburn and scarlet leaves light up the monotonous grey concrete roads and sidewalks with too many cracks. Fall leaves swirl and tumble, coming down steadily onto the ground to form a golden carpet, producing a sea of radiant colours.

A surprise comes one morning when Nozomu wakes up and finds Ryusei sleeping next to him on the futon which is barely even able to fit him alone. When he nudges Ryusei, the other merely mutters _cold_ and once again Nozomu finds himself storing this piece of information somewhere in his mind.

In the time Nozomu has spent with Ryusei, he’s learnt a lot about shooting stars, or more specifically, Ryusei. He’s learnt a lot about Ryusei, more than he asked for but still not enough. He’s learnt about the Ryusei who can eat but doesn’t have to and prefers anything over excessively sweet stuff any day; the Ryusei who wakes at the weirdest of hours because he can hear some stars crying then there is suddenly a heavy downpour; the Ryusei who doesn’t know how to switch the lights off but knows more about Astronomy than Nozomu’s professor ever will. The Ryusei who’s somehow made Nozomu a little dizzy whenever he’s too near; the Ryusei who has perhaps thrown Nozomu off his axis; the Ryusei who may or may not have made Nozomu fall just a little bit in love – puppy love.

Nozomu stares at Ryusei’s mop of blonde hair and thinks about how those locks used to be a dyed a shimmering gold. He thinks about how Ryusei used to have a glittering white aura and could leave trails of glimmering dust when he shook his head or walked around too much. He thinks about how Ryusei used to move from one end of his room to the other within the blink of an eye. He thinks about the Ryusei who used to be amazed by kitchen utensils, stationeries and clothes. He thinks about the Ryusei who still doesn’t know so much about this world and is probably dying to go back to his home.

But Nozomu still doesn’t have a single clue on how to help Ryusei go home and it’s been almost three months since Ryusei had arrived. Not that he’s been trying extremely hard or anything but he has been trying. And he thinks that it was great effort because he actually made a post on Yahoo answers. _How do you help a fallen shooting star who is incredibly human-like get home to his planet/galaxy?_ He’s long given up on people questioning his sanity when he posted the question. Though as he had expected, he got back lots of nonsensical replies and spam for a few days before the replies stopped coming in entirely. At least he tried.

When Nozomu looks at Ryusei, he thinks about a lot of things which induce stinging headaches so he stops thinking and focuses on the other’s closed eyelids instead. Even with all the glow and glitter, the glitz and glamour of all the magical things which makes Ryusei seem more like a shooting star than a human is gone, Nozomu still can’t help but be mesmerised by the other’s long eyelashes and be taken in by the curve of his nose and the shape of his lips.

He snaps out of his thoughts the next second because Ryusei shoots up and his forehead collides with Nozomu’s nose.

Nozomu pinches the ridge of his nose while praying that it will not break. “Ryusei,” he groans and gives the other a face but the other doesn’t see it because he’s looking everywhere around the room. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you hear that?” Ryusei says, a little too frantically in Nozomu’s opinion.

“Hear what?” Nozomu asks, tone bored as he nurses his injured nose and prays that it isn’t out of place. “The birds chirping or the leaves crunching?” He jokes and laughs but the laughter dies down as soon as Ryusei faces him with a stern look.

“Someone calling me, someone calling my name,” Ryusei huffs out. “I heard someone calling me.”

 _It was probably me_ , Nozomu wants to say because he may or may not have been muttering Ryusei’s name subconsciously like a weirdo, freak, creep et cetera while he was staring at the other’s features. But the serious look on Ryusei’s face tells Nozomu that he hadn’t done that and he’s slightly thankful for it. “Who did it sound like?”

“My mum.” Ryusei’s voice breaks a little and Nozomu does the first thing which comes to his mind. He pulls Ryusei into a hug. “I heard my mum calling me, Nozomu.”

“It’s okay, Ryusei,” Nozomu tries comforting the other but to no avail and he knows because he feels his sleeve getting wet as a patch of tears start forming there.

For a while, Nozomu allows Ryusei to stay in his arms and cry into his sleeves, making his chokes soft and muffled but nonetheless there. Then the crying stops and Ryusei’s murmuring words Nozomu can’t hear.

“Hm?” Nozomu prompts softly, not wanting to pressurise Ryusei into repeating because it might not even have been meant for him.

“Thank you.”

 

 

The next time Ryusei wakes up in the middle of the night, he’s crying so Nozomu decides to shift permanently back to his bed to hold the other when they sleep or simply just lie beside him. _Your presence is comforting and it’s starting to get cold_ , Ryusei had told Nozomu once before to assure him that it is alright for them to sleep on the same bed.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei starts and he sounds sleepy. Nozomu notes that Ryusei’s been getting sleepier and sleepier each day probably because the Perseids are barely or not even active anymore. He considers letting Ryusei sleep through the weekend. “Can you bring me to somewhere fun tomorrow?”

“Okay,” Nozomu replies softly but he knows that Ryusei didn’t hear it because the slow breathing coming from the other tells Nozomu that Ryusei has fallen asleep already.

So he brings Ryusei to an amusement park the next day. Nozomu hasn’t brought Ryusei out for winter shopping yet so he lent Ryusei an old coat of his which fits perfectly. Though halfway when they are walking to the entrance of theme park, Ryusei shrugs off the coat and complains that it’s too heavy.

“Aren’t you cold?” Nozomu gives Ryusei a questioning look while the other shrugs in reply. Nozomu doesn’t ask why Ryusei claimed that he was cold one morning which resulted into him climbing from the bed to sleep next to Nozomu.

When Nozomu realises that some people are giving them weird stares because Ryusei is only in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans while Nozomu himself is in a rather bulky looking trench coat, he grimaces. He helps Ryusei back into the coat despite the other’s protests. But all it takes is one word to shut Ryusei up. _Human_.

“But I’m not cold,” Ryusei whines.

“You’ll have to wear thicker coats during winter you know.” Nozomu grins widely when he hears an exasperated noise escaping Ryusei’s lips.

For the rest of the day, Nozomu lets Ryusei drag him to every corner and street of the theme park. He lets Ryusei doll him up in funky hats and weird sunglasses in the souvenir shops and he eats the overly sweet cake which Ryusei orders by accident and then refuses to eat.

They end up in the Ferris wheel a little past evening when the sky is starting to turn a calming shade of purple. The ride starts off rather excitingly for Ryusei and he cannot stop bouncing in his seat as he looks out of the carriage from every angle possible. Then he starts feeling tired and he simply slumps into his seat as he lightly kicks Nozomu’s knee.

Nozomu scowls and tries pushing Ryusei’s leg away. He succeeds the first time but Ryusei’s leg comes back to kicking him after a while and he gives up.

“How long is this thing going to take? What’s so special about it? Why is it big? Why is it a wheel?”

“Slow down,” Nozomu says with a chuckle and Ryusei groans but remains silent other than that, an indication that he doesn’t want to repeat his string of questions. “About half an hour,” Nozomu starts as he tries to remember Ryusei’s questions in order. “When you reach the top,” he stops because Ryusei cranes his neck to look outside the window before facing him again and nodding enthusiastically (like an overgrown puppy). “You make a wish.”

Somehow, Ryusei frowns at that and Nozomu prompts him to say something. “I make wishes come true.”

“Shooting star,” Nozomu reminds himself aloud and Ryusei grins. “It’s time you make a wish for yourself then.”

“Don’t need,” Ryusei replies casually. “I got you here.”’

It takes Nozomu a while to realise that Ryusei’s referring to his name _Nozomu_ , _wish_ and he rolls his eyes.

The carriage comes to a stop when they reach the top and Nozomu knows that it’s only for a while for the passengers at the bottom to get off so he smirks at Ryusei. “Make a wish quick.” 

But before he even says that, Ryusei’s eyes are already shut and he’s probably wishing for something. Nozomu chuckles before making a quick wish of his own. Ryusei’s eyes are still shut when Nozomu open his and he’s trying his best not to think of a cliché situation out of a typical romance film but he can’t help it. He actually wants to try it.

So he leans in as he ignores his mind chanting _cliché, cliché, cliché_. Ryusei opens his eyes but Nozomu doesn’t stop inching closer.

“Ryusei.”

Ryusei doesn’t seem to understand what Nozomu is trying to do because he’s staring back blankly. When Nozomu is getting too close into his personal space, Ryusei ducks away to look out the window and causes Nozomu to fall forward. 

“We’re at the top right?” Ryusei asks just as the Ferris wheel start moving again.

Nozomu lets out a dry laugh as he rubs his injured head. “Yeah.” He feels the annoyance sipping away as he watches a curve form on Ryusei’s lips, the edges pulling it up into a small smile.

As soon as they get off the carriage, Ryusei is dragging him in the direction of the carousel. “Saw it when we were up there.”

This time, Nozomu doesn’t need to remind himself _shooting star and super eyesight_. Instead, he tells himself _Ryusei_.

They get onto a pair of twin horses which are only a small space in between as compared to the other single horses where the space is relatively large. After five rounds or more, Nozomu feels a tap on his shoulder.

He isn’t prepared for Ryusei’s lips to clash messily against his (more to the right side of his lips actually) when he turns around. So he shifts, allowing their lips to meet completely. And it only lasts for a split second because Ryusei is pulling away the next and facing the front.

When they get off the ride, Ryusei intertwines their fingers and starts leading them to the teacups ride. Nozomu thinks that Ryusei knew what he wanted to do on the Ferris wheel.

 

 

Winter comes and the leaves start wilting, the playful breeze in autumn turns harsh and cruel. The sky seems to be dyed a perpetual depressing greyish white and the lamps by the pavements don’t seem to be doing much in livening up the atmosphere. The grasses in the gardens are frozen and unmoving while the bushes are chilled to the core with the icy wind every day.

A week before the temperature drops drastically, Nozomu manages to bring Ryusei to the mall to buy winter clothes although the other said that he doesn’t need them. Still, Nozomu insists because _humans don’t walk around in their summer wear during winter_. So Ryusei agrees reluctantly and Nozomu feels pieces of his heart getting chipped away as he pays for the items.

Hiking (or going up the mountain on a bus) can be fun during winter, Nozomu concludes as he watches Ryusei staring at a tree bark in fascination. It’s not so much going up to such a high place that is fun. It’s more like when Ryusei gets freaked out when he steps on a fallen twig and breaks it, only to be amazed by how the exact same twig has tiny ice popsicles forming on its edge only seconds later that is fun.

Ryusei drags Nozomu to a more isolated corner of the mountain and Nozomu has to send a quick text to the bus driver that he and Ryusei are going to explore a bit for a while but will be back by the designated time. He is greeted with the sight of an expanse of pure softness and whiteness when he keeps his phone and sees where Ryusei has brought him to.

“Snow angel!” Ryusei chirps excitedly before flinging himself onto his back and moving his arms and legs in the snow.

Now Nozomu knows why some of his romance novel has been missing and why the books on his shelf appear to be in the wrong order (he doesn’t actually arrange them by title or genre or anything but he hasn’t touched any of them in ages and he sort of remembers their position).

Nozomu smiles and walks to the empty spot next to Ryusei when the other sits up in his newly made snow angel and beckons Nozomu over. Because Nozomu isn’t good with estimation and his limbs are far too long, his right hand ends up overlapping with the left wing of Ryusei’s snow angel. He’s about to apologise after seeing it when he sits up but Ryusei pushes him back down before lying down on his own back. Ryusei takes Nozomu’s hand into his own and smiles at the not so crestfallen grey sky because there is a ray of light beaming through the branches of the trees onto where there are lying down.

 _Too many romance novels_ , Nozomu thinks but he isn’t complaining because he feels a jolt of electricity tingling from his fingertips to his toes and he wonders if this is some shooting star magic.

 

 

“It’s too cold,” Ryusei whines when Nozomu tells him to climb the ladder to the small area on the rooftop. Nozomu doesn’t really believe Ryusei because Ryusei is the one who said that he couldn’t feel the cold. But Ryusei’s nose is tinged pink as are his cheeks. So Nozomu wraps a scarf around the other and presses a chaste kiss to his pinkish nose.

After a few more minutes of persuading and coaxing, Ryusei finally ascends the ladder and Nozomu follows right after. Nozomu feels a little tipsy from the alcohol at Sho’s New Year Eve house party but he manages to haul himself up the ladder and hisses when he feels bitter cold wind slapping his face as soon as he sticks his head out of the door.

As soon as he’s up, he slumps against Ryusei and grins lazily when the other tries nudging him off.

“Heavy,” Ryusei complains but Nozomu knows he doesn’t mind. “The coat’s heavy enough so get off me.” When Nozomu doesn’t make any attempt to move, Ryusei stops nudging him as well and relaxes instead. “So why are we up here?”

“Fireworks,” Nozomu answers and then sits upright to face Ryusei.

“Fire what?” Ryusei asks but Nozomu doesn’t reply. Instead, he places his hands on Ryusei’s shoulder to turn the other to face him.

Their eyes lock and Nozomu takes it as a sign to lean in, slow and steady. Ryusei encircles his arms around Nozomu’s neck and moves in to close the rest of the distance. The kiss is gentle and unhurried but there seems to be a kind of urgency in it and it feels like a mixture of sweet cherries and salty sea water.

It’s the first time Nozomu notices how soft and warm Ryusei’s lips are and he starts feeling self conscious about his own dried and chapped ones from the cold. Nozomu also notices how Ryusei smells like apples and cinnamon because the other hadn’t touched any liquor at Sho’s party at all and Nozomu wonders how he smells like to Ryusei; he probably smells like cheap alcohol mixed with some expensive champagne. Nozomu moves one of his hand upwards Ryusei’s neck before he starts carding his fingers through the other’s luscious soft locks.

They don’t break apart completely when the fireworks explode in the sky, only a little and Nozomu mutters _happy new year_ against Ryusei’s lips.

“Happy new year,” Ryusei manages back in between kissing sloppily and trying to catch his breath. “Whatever that is.”

Ryusei places his hand over Nozomu’s cheek to push him away. “I want to watch.”

And so Nozomu nods understandingly, albeit unwillingly, as he points to the sky of exploding sizzles and lights to which Ryusei turns to. Nozomu’s seen enough New Year fireworks to roughly know how they will look like and he thinks he can miss this year’s ones if it means he that he gets to see Ryusei’s eyes lighting up with vigour and vibrancy with each resounding crackle in the sky.

He pretends to be looking at the sky when Ryusei turns to face him abruptly. He thinks he hasn’t been caught but the knowing smile from Ryusei which he catches from his peripheral vision tells him otherwise.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei singsongs playfully and laughs when Nozomu’s cheeks turn redder because they both know it’s not from the cold.

Nozomu thinks he’s gone in too deep.

 

 

“What are they?” Ryusei asks when he sees another pink petal dotted with red splashes falling, joining the heap of fallen petals to the ground. He slides further down onto the park bench and lets his long legs stretch out further in front, nearer to the railings separating the park benches and a small river.

On the other hand, Nozomu is trying to sit up as straight as possible because he wants to swing his legs. He hasn’t been able to do that for a while now since he grew so tall and his legs grew so long. Way too long in his opinion because now he can never swing his legs like he used to anymore unless he’s sitting on a really high chair which is a very rare occurrence.

“Cherry blossoms,” Nozomu replies. “They’re a type of flower.”

“Why aren’t they around all year round?”

“They only bloom during spring. Different kinds of flowers bloom at different times in a year.” When Nozomu turns to look at Ryusei, the other is looking at the river before them; he’s probably looking at the ducks and not paying attention to what Nozomu is saying. Ryusei doesn’t do it intentionally – not pay attention when Nozomu is explaining something to him – but he simply gets distracted by other things very easily. And Nozomu’s used to it so he doesn’t mind. “Come on,” Nozomu says and stands up while Ryusei stares at him with a confused expression. “Let’s take a walk.” Nozomu reaches his hand out to Ryusei who ponders for a few moments before taking it.

When they walk past a rather tall and majestic tree, Ryusei comes to a halt and tugs Nozomu’s hand to stop him from advancing further as well. For a while, Ryusei doesn’t say anything and just stares at the big tree which is covered with an array of pastel peachy colours with strong sturdy branches all around it. Nozomu sends him a questioning gaze but Ryusei’s eyes never leave the cherry blossoms.

“They fall really slowly, don’t they?” Ryusei finally asks. He holds his palm out to a falling petal he has spotted, hoping it would fall straight into his palm. But it doesn’t and falls to the ground directly instead. Ryusei doesn’t retract his hand; he shifts his hand slightly to the left as he waits for another petal to fall.

“Five centimetres per second,” Nozomu blurts out and Ryusei finally turns his attention to him. “The speed at which they fall,” Nozomu explains. He mentally thanks the movie which he learnt this fact from.

The next thing Ryusei says catches Nozomu off surprise. “Do you know the speed at which shooting stars fall?”

Nozomu bites his lower lip and racks his brain for an answer but he doesn’t know it and it isn’t something he has thought about before. Ryusei doesn’t hurry him for an answer but Nozomu is hurrying himself and he feels anxiety building up in his chest with each passing second. As an Astronomy major, Nozomu thinks he should know the answer but he doesn’t and it’s making him feel uncomfortable. To make himself feel better, Nozomu reasons with himself that shooting stars don’t fall very often so it isn’t a surprise or anything to feel bad about if he doesn’t know the answer.

“I don’t know,” Nozomu admits.

“Me neither,” Ryusei replies instantly and Nozomu frowns. “Just thought you might know the speed at which I fell.”

Shooting stars don’t fall very often but Nozomu is staring at one right now. And he mentally slaps himself for forgetting that. But in all honesty, it isn’t his fault because Ryusei has been so human lately. Minus the fact that Ryusei still asks about almost every single thing related to Earth which Nozomu has not explained to him yet, he eats, sleeps, walks, talks and does everything else like a human. (Almost) everything Ryusei does screams human and now Nozomu can’t really wrap his head around the fact that Ryusei is a fallen shooting star and that he is leaving Earth one day to go back to the galaxy to wherever he came from.

Ryusei’s going to leave Nozomu one day.

Nozomu shuts his eyes and swallows as he feels an uncomfortable feeling settling in his stomach. When Nozomu flickers open his eyes after calming down, he finds Ryusei squatting down among the blanket of petals and picking a few petals up, examining each one before gently placing them back onto the ground.

For now, Nozomu decides not to think about Ryusei leaving so he squats down and joins Ryusei in picking petals up. Though he stops after a while because he doesn’t exactly know what Ryusei is doing and because he’d rather sweep fallen petals off Ryusei’s shoulder and pluck fallen petals out of the other’s hair instead.

It isn’t as romantic as the romantic films or the romance books he has watched or read. A lone petal doesn’t fall onto Ryusei’s nose so he doesn’t get to pick it off as Ryusei’s face turn cherry red. He doesn’t get to pick if off Ryusei’s nose so he doesn’t have the chance to give it to Ryusei for the other to keep it in a diary or a book for memories.

But it’s okay, Nozomu thinks when Ryusei is reaching his hand towards his hair and patting it, like Nozomu is doing to his hair. It’s more than okay, Nozomu thinks when Ryusei’s patting turns more like ruffling, probably ruining his some of his hairspray and gel in the process, and then Ryusei finally asks, “why are you ruining my hair?”

 _Of course_ , Nozomu deadpans in his mind. Of course Ryusei would think he is ruining his hair. Vanity runs in Ryusei’s blood (if he even has blood in him), Nozomu has learnt in the time spent with Ryusei. The other is probably, most likely vainer than even Nozomu. “I’m brushing fallen petals out of your hair, idiot. Unless you’re okay with them staying there.”

Ryusei stops ruffling Nozomu’s hair and laughs, so Nozomu knows that the other was just ruffling his hair for no particular reason (other than messing it up perhaps).

“Sorry,” Ryusei tells Nozomu but the small smile ghosting over Ryusei’s lips tells Nozomu that he doesn’t really mean his apology. “I guess.”

Nozomu smiles wryly when his suspicion gets confirmed. Though he doesn’t really mind.

 

 

“A fallen shooting star?” Kamiyama sounds like he’s being ridiculed and Nozomu doesn’t blame him because who would believe that a shooting star had really fallen into his room? (Besides Sho).

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Sho exclaims and it sounds more like an accusation than a question.

“I didn’t think you guys would believe me,” Nozomu defends himself and winces when Kamiyama fixes an unimpressed look on him. “And I’m right.”

“Half,” Sho corrects immediately. “Kami-chan doesn’t believe you but I do.”

Kamiyama shifts his gaze onto Sho and it sends a shiver down Sho’s spine. Kamiyama might be small but he could certainly be intimidating at times. “I sort of believe Nozomu but,” he frowns. “Yeah, why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

“Didn’t I just say that I thought you guys wouldn’t believe me? And I was half right until moments ago.” Nozomu groans. “So yeah, anyway, as I was saying, Ryusei’s a shooting star. He fell last year in August during the annual shower and has been with me ever since.”

“Your dreams are kind of prophetic,” Sho marvels and Nozomu doesn’t have any idea what he’s talking about. “Your dream about a shooting star falling into your room,” Sho explains dryly when he spots Nozomu’s confused face.

And then it strikes a chord in Nozomu’s brain because he has forgotten about that dream entirely.

“But how is he getting back?” Kamiyama asks and Nozomu falls completely silent.

“I don’t know.”

 

 

The same thing happens when Nozomu goes that day and tells the truth about Ryusei to his family. His sister stares at him like he’s telling the biggest lie in the century while his parents are looking at him worriedly (and probably wondering if their son needs to see a psychiatrist).

His sister is the one voicing out their parents’ concerns though. “Nozomu, have you been studying too much? But that can’t be the case so are you having a fever?” And she sounds genuinely concerned but Nozomu knows better than to overlook her patronising tone.

“The exchange isn’t real, you can check with the school.”

“So you lied to us,” his father says sternly.

“I had to,” Nozomu counters quickly. “I mean, look what’s happening now,” he motions towards his family members. “You guys don’t believe me!”

“Nozomu, it’s really difficult to believe this.” There is a sort of tenderness in his mother’s voice which calms him down considerably. “But give us all some time. I’m sure we’ll come around.”

Nozomu agrees to give them more time. They’ll come around soon enough, Nozomu knows that for sure. It’s his family after all.

“Okay, I believe you,” his sister gives in shortly after and Nozomu beams. Quicker than he has expected but definitely welcomed all the same. “Take care of him until he knows how to go home.”

Nozomu thinks he will do so even without his sister, though unintentionally, reminding him of the fact that Ryusei will have to leave one day. And he’s actually the one responsible for getting the other home because he has made a promise. A stupid promise he isn’t even sure if he can fulfil anymore.

 

 

When Nozomu wakes up one morning, Ryusei isn’t next to him. He freaks out and panics a little because what if Ryusei has vanished into thin air because staying on Earth is impossible for him after all? What if Ryusei has turned into a meteorite or something? What if Ryusei could suddenly go back home and he left without saying anything at all?

His worries are dispelled when he looks out his glass window (he doesn’t remember who got it fixed, but definitely not him. They were just ‘magically’ repaired one day and he hadn’t noticed until a few days later.) On the green carpet of grass in the garden, Nozomu sees Ryusei lying there, gazing up at the sky. He heaves a sigh of relief before he remembers what happened the last time he saw Ryusei lying on the grass like that.

Nozomu stomps out the front door and stands behind Ryusei’s head. “What are you doing out here?” Nozomu asks harshly. When Ryusei doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even acknowledge Nozomu’s presence, Nozomu continues. “Were you trying to go back home again.”

This time Nozomu gets a response, but it isn’t one that he likes though he expected it. A tiny nod is all Nozomu need to know that Ryusei was attempting to leave again. He isn’t angry at Ryusei trying to go home. He’s angry because Ryusei planned on leaving without telling him, without saying anything to him. And maybe, he’s more sad and hurt than angry but it’s too early in the morning for him to be rational so he goes over to the main road and hails a cab. He gives the driver Kamiyama’s address (because Sho’s house is only for parties, not sleepovers) and doesn’t care about the judging look the driver gives him from the rear view mirror because he’s still in his sleepwear and looks like he hasn’t washed up yet (he hasn’t but the driver doesn’t need to know that).

“Wow, what happened?” Kamiyama asks when he opens his front door, revealing a rather dishevelled Nozomu.

“Ryusei,” is all Nozomu says before brushing past Kamiyama. He calls out to Kamiyama to let the other know that he’s going to use his bathroom and ransack Kamiyama’s room for his spare clothes.

It’s near evening when Nozomu finally leaves (when Kamiyama finally chases him out because Nozomu _should_ go home). But Nozomu doesn’t go home. Instead, he goes to Akito’s shop because he knows that it’s closing soon so Akito has time to chat with him.

The shop is near Kamiyama’s house so Nozomu only has to take a ten minute walk. And he considers dropping by Kamiyama’s house more often to ‘visit’ Akito (stealing free pastries).

“Long time no see,” Akito greets. “How have you been, kid?”

Nozomu walks into the shop as the last customer walks out with a bag of cookies which Nozomu catches a whiff of. “Fine.”

“Why are you here?” Akito starts casually as he begins locking the front door. “Has your exchange student gone back?”

“Not mine,” Nozomu mutters bitterly but Akito doesn’t hear it. “Can I bake or something?”

“The kitchen’s open,” Akito tells Nozomu while arranging the tables. “Do what you want but don’t destroy my kitchen.”

When Akito walks in the kitchen, there are cookies baking in the oven. “That was quick,” Akito muses and Nozomu doesn’t want to tell him that it was because he took so long stacking up the tables and chairs. The oven ‘dings’ not long after and Akito praises Nozomu as soon as the oven door opens because he can smell a trace of sweet aroma in the air.

“This is great,” Akito comments as he pops another cookie into his mouth. “Are you going to give this to your exchange student? Oh yeah, you didn’t answer me about that just now.” Akito frowns at Nozomu. “Is your exchange student still here or what?”

“He’s still here,” Nozomu replies quickly, wanting the conversation about Ryusei to end as soon as possible. But it’s only the beginning of the conversation.

“You can give these to him then,” Akito says as he motions towards the cookies. “I hope he likes shooting stars.” He chuckles. “Tell me more about this exchange student anyway.”

“His name is Ryusei,” Nozomu starts and he feels the anger sipping away slowly. “He has blonde hair.” Actually, Nozomu would like to say ‘gold and shimmering and like the sun’. “He’s almost as tall as me, only a few centimetres shorter.”

“Giants,” Akito scoffs.

As he continues talking about Ryusei, the anger he felt earlier on that day gradually turns into nothing and Nozomu feels ready to go home to face the other again. He thanks Akito quickly and says that he has to pick Ryusei up from the mall. But he forgets the bag of cookies and Akito has to call him back for them.

He doesn’t think he’s angry anymore when he steps into his house. He doesn’t think he’s angry anymore as he walks up the stairs. He doesn’t think he’s angry anymore as he turns his doorknob.

But he’s proven wrong as soon as he looks at Ryusei. All the anger he had thought gone comes rushing back into his veins and all he does is to throw? the bag of cookies in front of Ryusei before walking out of the room.

 

 

On Nozomu’s birthday, he gets a rather unexpected gift from a rather unexpected someone. When he walks into his room in the morning, he finds a brand new telescope on his study desk with a tag attached to it. On the tag, there’s a messy scribble that he doesn’t recognise as any of his family member’s or friend’s penmanship which says _Happy Birthday_.

Ever since Ryusei had tried to go back home the second time, things haven’t been the same. Nozomu and Ryusei hardly talk anymore; they only talk in front of Nozomu’s family to act normal. And Nozomu has been sleeping in the guest room, only returning to his room early in the morning before everyone is awake to avoid annoying questions like _why aren’t you sleeping in your own room anymore?_.

So when the first thing that Ryusei says as soon as he wakes up and spots Nozomu in the room is _happy birthday_ , Nozomu has a rough idea as to who the telescope is from. His guess is proven to be correct when Ryusei starts motioning towards the table and refusing to meet his eye.

“How did you get it?” Nozomu asks curiously. His pride isn’t allowing him to sound thankful no matter how grateful he really is. “I mean, since you don’t have money and all that.”

“I worked. Kami-chan and Sho chipped in too,” Ryusei explains casually, causing Nozomu to star at him, wide eyed. 

“You worked? Where? What did you do? How?” Questions start spilling from Nozomu’s mouth before he even fully comprehends that Ryusei had _worked_ to get him a gift.

“Kami-chan and Sho told me that I could tutor your classmates. But I couldn’t earn enough in time so they chipped in.”

“Why would you do that?” Nozomu sounds angrier than he intends to, shocking Ryusei a little but the other recovers quickly and sends Nozomu a curious stare. “You know,” Nozomu groans out, not liking to be stuck in situations where he can’t explain properly.

Ryusei glares at him. “Well,” he starts, sounding a little annoyed (or it might be Nozomu’s imagination because _too early_ ). “You’ve been ignoring me.”

“For good reasons,” Nozomu counters.

But Ryusei ignores and continues. “And I had nothing to do.”

“So you went to tutor my classmates for money?”

“Will you shut up and stop cutting me off?” Ryusei snaps, making Nozomu promptly shutting his mouth. “I know what you’ve been angry about.”

That catches Nozomu off guard because he didn’t really think that Ryusei could be that observant (though it’s a really obvious thing, but it’s Ryusei who’s airheaded and clueless about everything so Nozomu has to give him credit for that). Also, _sad_ , Nozomu wants to add on but he keeps quiet, not wanting to be scolded again.

“Kami-chan and Sho told me that you spent a lot of unnecessary money on me,” Ryusei continues as he gestures to the clothes he’s wearing and the wardrobe where all the other clothes and winter coats Nozomu have bought him are. “They said you’ve been saving for a telescope so,” he then gestures to the object lying on Nozomu’s table. “Yeah.”

It’s Ryusei not meeting Nozomu’s eyes or maybe it’s Ryusei’s voice growing softer with each word because he’s shy that makes Nozomu go over and cup the other’s face in his hands. “Thank you, I really like it.”

“Does that mean I’m forgiven?” Ryusei asks excitedly (far too much like a puppy).

And all Nozomu does is nod before Ryusei’s throwing himself into Nozomu’s arms and laughing like he hasn’t had the chance to express joy in months.

 _For now, until you really leave_ , Nozomu thinks.

 

 

It’s only fair to give back an equally nice birthday present for Ryusei when the day comes. So Nozomu goes to town a day before Ryusei’s birthday to buy something special to surprise the other. There is a bounce in his footsteps as he makes his way down the streets and into an all too familiar store. 

“Not buying a telescope today?” The shop keeper asks as Nozomu pays for his item.

Nozomu grins as he thinks back to the present Ryusei had gotten him a few weeks ago for his birthday. “Don’t need one as for now. Someone gave me one on my birthday.”

“Someone special?” There is a sort of teasing tone in the shop keeper’s voice.

“Not really,” Nozomu admits sheepishly. Because Ryusei isn’t his lover but Ryusei _is_ someone special to him, more than special even. Someone irreplaceable maybe. “But he is special.”

 

 

Nozomu wakes up earlier the next day to get things ready to surprise the birthday boy. He does his best to be as quiet as possible, afraid that even a minimal noise might wake Ryusei up. So he tiptoes when he moves from one place to another and he slows his breathing down. It’s kind of stupid if Nozomu thinks about it but he doesn’t mind. Not at all.

Around Ryusei’s usual waking time (it’s usually a few minutes before or after Nozomu), his eyes start to open slowly, revealing the first glimpse of chestnut brown before they fly open completely the next second. Ryusei’s eyes are growing wider, wider then Nozomu has ever seen before. And then Ryusei lets out a gasp as he looks around the room, taking in the surrounding view with his mouth hung open and his eyes filled with confusion mixed with surprise. It makes Nozomu smile warmly because he just knew that Ryusei would react this way.

However, he hadn’t expected the next thing. It happens in a flash; suddenly there are tears rolling down Ryusei’s cheeks and the latter is hiccupping against the back of his hand while trying to muffle his chokes and stifle his sobs. Within the next moment, Nozomu is rushing over to Ryusei’s side immediately to hold him. 

“What’s wrong?” Nozomu asks, voice laced with worry and a tint of surprise. He rubs the other’s back in a slow motion, hoping that it would soothe the other, even if it’s just a tiny bit. “Slowly.”

“I thought I was home for a moment,” Ryusei chokes out as he continues sobbing miserably into Nozomu’s arm, albeit better than when he first started. “I thought I was home,” he repeats, sounding firmer this time around but still as broken as the first.

“It’s a planetarium,” Nozomu whispers against Ryusei’s temple. “It projects the galaxy. I thought you would be happy to see it.”

Then the sniffing stops and it lifts a huge boulder off Nozomu’s heart. When Nozomu pulls away, Ryusei is looking up at him, meeting his eye. At such a close distance, Nozomu can see tear streaks staining Ryusei’s face and his heart starts aching again. “You bought this for me?”

“Happy birthday,” Nozomu simply says, wishing that it can somehow explain everything because he doesn’t think he can string proper sentences together at the moment to clarify anything properly.

Ryusei’s eyes are growing wide again, allowing Nozomu to clearly see the tears which haven’t fall glistening in the other’s eyes. He swipes his thumb over Ryusei’s cheek to catch a falling teardrop. 

“You remember?” Ryusei gasps, voice sounding scratchy from all the crying.

Nozomu thinks it’s a redundant question. Of course he remembers. So he leans down and captures Ryusei’s lips in a swift kiss before planting a kiss to his forehead. “Do you like it?”

The Milky Way is brilliantly bright and crystal clear with stars adorning every corner of the room and the Big Dipper is right above where they are sitting. The North Star is at one end of the room but it’s shining so vividly that it draws attention to itself naturally, much like the real North Star. Then there are the constellations and the zodiacs, filling up the room with shimmering white and a calming glow.

“I love it,” Ryusei finally says as he continues looking all around the room. “Thank you, Nozomu.”

The smile Ryusei gives Nozomu is so dazzling that Nozomu thinks Ryusei could easily fit into the background as one of the stars. He doesn’t think about how Ryusei _is_ a shooting star as he strokes Ryusei’s hair while the latter is pointing to each different constellation and giggling.

 

 

“Real stars are better though,” Ryusei comments idly while he plays with the settings on the planetarium.

“Don’t be picky,” Nozomu chides playfully.

“We can do some daytime stargazing though,” Ryusei points out and Nozomu frowns because it is morning. People don’t star gaze in the morning. But Ryusei isn’t human. “Let’s go,” he decides for them both and drags Nozomu out of the room.

“It’s barely evening,” Nozomu tells Ryusei as the other climbs up the ladder leading to the roof. Ryusei is saying something but it comes across as unintelligible and muffled to Nozomu so he ignores it.

“I said daytime stars,” Ryusei repeats in glee when Nozomu’s head appears beneath the door. “Or afternoon stars or evening stars, whichever you prefer.” He leans against Nozomu’s shoulder as soon as the latter is seated properly. “You know the stars are up there in the sky all the time right? You see them as soon as the sky turns dark though because then, the stars definitely shine amidst the darkness. Of course the moon is bright too but not like the stars. The stars are special.”

Nozomu only catches about half of it because Ryusei is babbling but he hums in agreement anyway, earning himself a light slap on his thigh because Ryusei knows that he’s being patronising. But Nozomu is more concerned about other things besides the faint sting on his thigh. “So how do I star-gaze exactly? I can’t see anything.”

If it’s at night, at least Nozomu can imagine it because he’s so used to that setting that he can see the stars even without a telescope but the sky is hardly dark now and all he sees are the white fluffy clouds and the pale blue sky.

Ryusei points to a spot in the sky which Nozomu is surprised that he’s familiar with. “Pieces.”

It makes Nozomu grin. “I know.” So maybe he can stargaze around evening too.

When night time arrives, Nozomu insists on going back down to bring up his new telescope to put it to good use but Ryusei refuses to let him go.

“Then why did you buy it?” Nozomu whines. He isn’t prepared for the answer that Ryusei gives.

“For when I leave and you need a telescope to see the constellations again.”

Nozomu tries very, very hard to ignore the prickling sensation under his skin, the tears pooling in his eyes and the dull throbbing pain in his chest.

 

 

Nozomu and Ryusei are watching the fireworks properly when New Year comes around again. And again, they are nestled against each other in the cramped space on the rooftop.

“Ryusei,” Nozomu starts and he hears a soft _hm_ which is barely audible. “I think I’m in love with you.”

It’s a confession but it’s entirely unromantic and normal and not how Nozomu has always pictured it would turn out. It’s his first confession and he doesn’t have flowers or chocolates. High school Nozomu would tell him that he is a complete, utter failure but university Nozomu thinks it’s pretty simple and sweet. 

Ryusei isn’t saying anything and it’s forming a pit of nervousness in Nozomu’s chest. The only sounds Nozomu can hear are the high pitched noise and exploding sounds from the fireworks. When Nozomu intertwines their fingers together, Ryusei doesn’t do it back. Nozomu nudges him gently. Still, Ryusei doesn’t respond. As he’s about to repeat what he said in a louder voice, Ryusei’s head falls onto his shoulder; the other has fallen asleep.

Still, Nozomu repeats his previous statement in a louder voice. “Ryusei, I think I love you.” He smiles down at Ryusei’s sleeping figure before looking back up at the explosion of bright lights in the sky and misses the wetness staining Ryusei’s face.

Somehow, Nozomu thinks he doesn’t mind January’s freezing air and harsh wind at all if Ryusei’s next to him, if Ryusei’s by his side. But still, he doesn’t like it all that much so he’s waking Ryusei up and telling him that they should go back to the room.

“I think I love you,” Nozomu tries telling Ryusei again as soon as he’s back in the house but he finds the other leaning against the wall with his eyes shut and body limp. So he carries Ryusei bridal-style and wonders if the latter will kill him if he ever finds out.

“I think I love you,” Nozomu repeats for the third time as he carefully lowers Ryusei onto the bed. As he tucks Ryusei under the blankets, he misses the way Ryusei’s eyes shut tighter, causing his face to scrunch up as if he is having a nightmare.

 

 

It’s becoming a habit for Nozomu to tell Ryusei _I think I love you_ and every time Ryusei doesn’t hear it. Every single time, Nozomu is either too soft, according to Ryusei because he asks Nozomu to repeat but the latter becomes too embarrassed to say it again. Or because Ryusei is asleep, not paying attention and spacing out so he doesn’t catch what Nozomu says.

Right now, they are at a park – the same park they were at last year during spring to view the cherry blossoms – viewing cherry blossoms once again. The only difference this time is that Ryusei isn’t asking what the flowers are and he isn’t distracted by the river or the ducks. 

Nozomu realises how much Ryusei knows about Earth already. Though it is only natural he would because he’s almost been on Earth for two years already. On some days, Nozomu manages to forget the fact that Ryusei is a fallen shooting star. On other days, like today, Nozomu is reminded of the fact that Ryusei once didn’t know what a cherry blossom is.

There is nothing to distract Ryusei and he is definitely awaken so Nozomu thinks this is his chance, the right time, the golden opportunity to say what he’s been wanting to say ever since the New Year.

“Ryusei, I – ”

Nozomu doesn’t get to complete his sentence because Ryusei captures his lips in a sloppy and messy kiss before he can say the next word. To pull Nozomu further into the kiss, Ryusei wraps his arms around the other’s neck and pushes his tongue past Nozomu’s sealed lips. There is some sort of unspoken urgency and eagerness in the kiss which Nozomu doesn’t understand so he wants to pull away but Ryusei doesn’t allow him to, pressing his body closer, refusing to break the kiss. It confuses Nozomu but he complies anyway and kisses back with equal fervour and passion.

When they finally break apart, they are both panting and Nozomu forgets what he wants to say for a moment.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei says just as Nozomu is about to open his mouth. “Let’s go there.” He points to the opposite end of the park and Nozomu stares at the spot blankly. “Race you,” he adds with a wink before taking off, leaving Nozomu in a stupor before he realises what’s happening and he dashes off in the same direction as well.

“That’s not fair, Ryusei,” Nozomu complains when he reaches the destination point. He’s about to say more but Ryusei is pulling his face down for a kiss, stopping him from further complains. Ryusei is pecking him continuously on the lips, causing a smile to appear on Nozomu’s face. “Still not fair,” Nozomu manages to say in between Ryusei’s shower of affection.

Nozomu starts kissing back but Ryusei pulls away while giggling uncontrollably. “Stop,” Ryusei whines but Nozomu ignores him and continues pecking him on his temple, the side of his eyes and his cheek repeatedly. Ryusei makes a little noise of frustration when he feels Nozomu grinning against his cheeks. “Nozomu,” Ryusei warns but Nozomu merely chuckles.

“I really think I love you,” Nozomu mutters when he’s planting a short kiss next to Ryusei’s ear and they both freeze but Ryusei is laughing the next second and whining again so Nozomu doesn’t think Ryusei heard. If Ryusei had heard him, not only this time but all the other times as well, he would have said something…right?

 

 

“Let’s go ice skating,” Nozomu says lazily from his bed. He sits up to see Ryusei reading. The other appears to like reading a lot. Maybe Nozomu should bring him to a bookstore one day.

“What’s ice skating?” Ryusei asks, scrunching his nose up in distaste because he had automatically linked the word ‘ice’ to ‘cold’ and he doesn’t like the cold. Not one bit. He doesn’t put the book away until he realises Nozomu’s gaze on him. So he folds the romance novel into half before letting it rest on his lap. “I don’t like the cold.”

When Ryusei had first stepped foot on Earth, he couldn’t feel the scorching heat of summer or the cruel chill of winter. The temperature had always felt the same to him and he never had to worry about being too hot or too cold. He doesn’t know when that had changed because one day, he felt goose bumps rising on his skin, he felt cool breeze wisp past his cheek and he felt _cold_. His body had started to change – to grow more accustomed to Earth probably – but (though he’ll never tell Nozomu), he’s scared. Scared because he doesn’t want to grow accustomed to Earth, he doesn’t want to become more human-like. He wants to go home.

“Where’s the ice anyway?” Ryusei continues as he looks out the window where the green leaves on tree branches are swaying happily. No sign of ice around.

“Ice rinks are still open in spring.”

“Ice rinks,” Ryusei deadpans but Nozomu knows that he’s asking for what ice rinks are.

Feeling too lazy to explain, Nozomu casually searches for a picture of an ice rink online to show Ryusei. He manages to find a suitable one to show Ryusei in a short while but the other simply stares blankly at the picture before shifting his confused gaze to Nozomu.

Deciding that bringing Ryusei down to an ice rink would be much easier, Nozomu gets off his bed and goes over to Ryusei. He pulls Ryusei up from the rolling chair, making the book on the latter’s lap clatter to the ground. But Nozomu ignores it; he ignores how some pages might have been folded and leaves it on the ground.

Ryusei is pouting as he lets Nozomu drag him out of the house. “Promise me it won’t be cold.”

But Nozomu gives him no promises. He shrugs, earning a kick in the back of the knee. “You walk in front.” Nozomu comes to an abrupt halt, causing Ryusei to collide with his back. And before Ryusei can whine about anything again, Nozomu is nudging him to the front.

“I don’t know the way,” Ryusei reasons as he turns around to face Nozomu. “So you should lead.”

“I’ll give you directions,” Nozomu assures before nudging Ryusei again. “Walk straight ahead.”

 

 

They reach the ice rink after several wrong turns, stepping on each others’ shoes with clumsy fingers brushing against one another, because Ryusei messes up right and left sometimes. And Nozomu was too caught up in his thoughts of whether to hold Ryusei’s hand or not that he didn’t notice it the first time. Only after realising that they were on a path which doesn’t lead to the ice rink did he then bring them back to the right lane. 

When they enter the area outside the ice rink, the first thing Ryusei does is to stuff his hands into his pocket. “It’s cold,” he complains and Nozomu sends him a worried look because it isn’t really that cold at all. “I need a jacket.”

It stops Nozomu from asking if Ryusei is really feeling the cold as he compiles instantly and pulls off his own jacket before passing it to Ryusei who accepts it gratefully. Thankfully, he had put on a long sleeved shirt and is wearing a pair of black cotton jeans. 

After renting their ice skates and after Nozomu’s done wearing his, he squats down in front of Ryusei who is currently inspecting the blades of the skates.

“Don’t do that,” Nozomu scolds gently, shocking Ryusei and he almost drops the skate but Nozomu steadies him with a hand to his knee so that Ryusei tightens his grip onto the skate. “It’s sharp, so you might hurt yourself. Give it to me.”

People are staring because a grown man is squatting in front of another grown man helping him wear a pair of ice skates and the latter is peering over his long legs to see the situation with a very curious expression. But Nozomu doesn’t care. He ties the last knot on Ryusei’s right skate before standing up and pulling the other up with him on the way.

The result of pulling Ryusei up along with Nozomu is expected by the latter. Ryusei falls forward into Nozomu’s already open arms with a soft _oomph_. Nozomu makes sure that he’s holding Ryusei’s arms properly before he pushes the other back up to stand straight. “Slowly,” he encourages as he steadies Ryusei.

It takes a while before Ryusei can finally balance properly and he smiles triumphantly when he’s able to do so without Nozomu holding the side of his arms. But his face drops immediately when Nozomu tells him to walk towards the rink.

“I can’t walk in this,” Ryusei says in exasperation.

“Slowly,” Nozomu repeats his previous words and he notes with delight that there is a faint, very faint blush creeping onto Ryusei’s face.

Walking with Ryusei to the rink is like a mother penguin walking with a child penguin for the first time ever. Instead of walking, it’s more like waddling in Nozomu’s opinion as he whispers _right, left, right, left_ to Ryusei and they both only take a step on Nozomu’s command.

With much effort and determination, they finally reach the ice rink but as soon as Ryusei steps foot onto the ice, he falls onto his butt and Nozomu bursts out into laughter.

“It’s cold,” Ryusei shrieks as he tries to clamber up, scratching at Nozomu’s jeans in the process.

Nozomu watches Ryusei paw at his jeans for a few moments before finally taking pity on the latter and hauling him up in one swift motion. It makes Ryusei fall forward but he grabs onto the railings in time for balance.

“I can’t.” Fear and worry are evident in Ryusei’s voice.

“Slowly.” Nozomu’s voice is so soft and gentle that it manages to coax Ryusei into releasing one hand from the railings for Nozomu to hold. “I’ll teach you.”

Truth to be told, Nozomu isn’t a very good skater. He’s a mediocre skater at best and he has never taught anyone how to skate in his entire life before. So if Ryusei is nervous, he’s honestly just as nervous. But he practices what he preaches so _slowly_ he reminds himself as he moves forward slightly, allowing the blades to glide over the ice smoothly.

“Ready?” Nozomu asks as gently as he can. Ryusei is staring at him with wide fearful eyes that are almost comical but Nozomu can understand that fear so he gives Ryusei a few moments to calm down before the other lets go of the railing completely at last. “And slowly,” Nozomu voices out, more for himself than for Ryusei but the nod he gets gives him some courage to do this properly.

The first step is always difficult because both parties are too hesitant; the experienced one is too afraid to move forward and the inexperienced is too unprepared for any slight movement. It’s difficult but Nozomu reminds himself _slowly, slowly_ over and over again before he skates forward slightly, pulling Ryusei along with him. The latter’s grip tightens as they move forward together in sync.

An hour since they had started and Ryusei still can’t skate on his own but at least they can now skate side by side. Nozomu grins at Ryusei but the latter isn’t looking at him because he’s too afraid of losing his balance and falling again if he looks anywhere other than the front.

“You have to fall at least once,” Nozomu tells Ryusei who replies by shaking his head furiously, making Nozomu chuckle. “I’m serious. Otherwise where’s the fun in that?”

“Your idea of fun is kind of warped,” Ryusei groans out, turning his head quickly to face Nozomu for a split second before facing back front instantly in a comically quick way. 

It’s a sharp turn at an awkward angle which sends the pair tumbling to the ground – Nozomu lands flat on his butt with Ryusei falling over him. It makes Nozomu explode into fits of laughter but Ryusei is scrambling to stand up again. Though one tug on the sleeve from Nozomu stops Ryusei from struggling to get up.

“Is this your idea of fun?” Ryusei huffs out and rolls his eyes when Nozomu nods enthusiastically. “It’s not fun at all.”

“Yes it is,” Nozomu argues back and pushes himself into an upright position before taking Ryusei’s face into his palms and squishing them, making the other glare at him. With Ryusei’s cheeks being squished, his glare doesn’t look threatening or the least bit frightening at all and it prompts Nozomu to laugh instead.

Ryusei’s glare intensifies and so does the pressure of Nozomu’s palms against his cheeks. “Nozomu.”

There are people starting to look at them, some giving them judgemental looks while some wondering aloud if they are brothers. Nozomu doesn’t care about all that though. He presses their foreheads together. There are also couples too caught up in their own dates to be bothered by the pair sitting on the ground. Luckily they had fallen near a corner so they aren’t blocking or obstructing anyone’s pathway (yet).

Nozomu stops squishing Ryusei’s cheeks and slides his hands forward before he spreads his fingers until his hands are covering both the side of their faces. He presses their nose together and it makes their lips ghost over one another. Neither of them makes the attempt to close the remaining distance to seal their lips together though.

Instead, Nozomu whispers against Ryusei’s lips, “I love you.”

And there’s definitely no denying that Ryusei has heard it now. Still, Ryusei remains silent but he moves forward to close the distance between their lips.

For now, Nozomu thinks it’s okay not getting an answer. 

 

 

It gets a little frustrating for Nozomu when Ryusei acts like always the next day as if Nozomu hadn’t confessed to him at the ice skating rink the day before. It gets more than a little frustrating when Ryusei continues acting like nothing happened the day after and the next and the next and the next.

But Nozomu doesn’t have the guts to bring the topic up again and he doesn’t want to disturb Ryusei reading so he watches the other silently until Ryusei _tsks_ and he jumps, startled.

“Why do you keep looking at me?” Ryusei asks suspiciously with squinted eyes at Nozomu.

“It’s nothing,” Nozomu lies easily, faking a smile which Ryusei seems to believe and he goes back to reading the book in his hands. “It’s nothing,” Nozomu repeats to himself, willing himself to think that Ryusei not responding to his confession at all doesn’t mean anything. It really doesn’t.

 

 

“I confessed to him.”

Both Kamiyama and Sho stop eating and stare at Nozomu with big, wide eyes. It’s Kamiyama who speaks first.

“You mean to Ryusei, right?” Kamiyama blurts out in disbelief and he chokes on a piece of meat which probably went down the wrong pipe. Sho pats his back with a worried expression. Nozomu nods mutely and Kamiyama lets out a gasp. “You can’t be in love with him.”

“And why not?” Nozomu grits out, annoyed that Kamiyama isn’t supportive of him. He turns to Sho and glares accusatorily. “Do you think so too?”

Sho glances back and forth between Kamiyama and Nozomu, both his friends giving him equally hard and threatening stares which make him gulp in fear. Choosing either side is going to get him killed one way or another so he chooses to laugh and give them a dumb face.

“You’re useless,” Nozomu hisses and it helps Sho decide whose side he’s on. “Seriously?! You’re really useless.”

“Am not,” Sho huffs out. “But I agree with Kami-chan.”

“And why?”

“He’s a shooting star!” Kamiyama and Sho exclaim in unison, earning themselves a few weird glances which they expertly ignore.

“And what’s wrong with that?” Nozomu knows what his friends are trying to say and he has also thought about it before. But knowing something and acknowledging something are two different matters.

“He doesn’t belong here,” Kamiyama starts.

And Sho continues. “So he has to go back to wherever he came from one day.”

It isn’t every day that Kamiyama and Sho sing the same tune, much less that Sho is actually being reasonable and logical for once. In this situation, it certainly upsets Nozomu to no end because all he wants is support from his two best friends. Yes, it’s ridiculous to expect them to support him but he didn’t expect them to dampen his mood so quickly like that though they are just pointing out the obvious fact.

“It’s not that we,” Kamiyama pauses to turn to Sho for affirmation that the other thinks the same way as him and only continues when Sho gives him a firm nod. “It’s not that we aren’t supporting you, Nozomu. It’s just that we all know how it’ll end up and it’s just going to make you sad. We’re just worried about you.”

“I know your worries and concerns,” Nozomu bites out harshly, too stubborn to give in. “You think I haven’t thought about them? I know how it’ll end up and I don’t mind. I just want,” he fidgets in his seat as he struggles to find the right words to say. Though there aren’t really any right words to use in a situation like this. “Even if it’s just something temporary, I want it.”

And Sho finally speaks up. “If it will make you happy, even if it’s just for a while, then I say go for it.”

“Sho,” Kamiyama growls. “Don’t encourage him. I don’t want to be the one fixing him up when he’s a moping mess.”

“But he’s already in love, Kami-chan,” Sho answers back. “Whether or not his feelings are reciprocated, he’s already in love and you don’t just stop being in love.” Then he smiles and Nozomu thinks he’s going to say something even more intelligent, something even deeper. “Jiko taught me that.”

Of course. It definitely had to be that Photography major teaching Sho all these stuff. Nozomu wonders why this Koji didn’t major in Philosophy instead.

“Thanks, Sho,” Nozomu sincerely says and gives an appreciative smile.

“Okay fine,” Kamiyama mutters. “Sho or ‘Jiko’ has a point and yeah okay fine,” he waves his hand. “Just know what you’re doing, Nozomu.”

Deep down inside, Kamiyama supports Nozomu too but he’s just too shy to say it aloud. It’s okay though because Nozomu knows what his friend really means and that’s enough for him.

“Thanks, Kami-chan.”

The sides of Kamiyama’s lips twitch.

 

 

To succeed, you have to try more than once and so Nozomu does. When he finally musters enough courage to confess again, he kneels in front of Ryusei who is sitting on Nozomu’s rolling chair and reading a book. Typical as of late.

“Ryusei,” Nozomu starts and he feels the first hint of nervousness tugging at his tongue. “I think I love you. I love you.”

For a moment, just for a split second, Ryusei’s eyes widen and he tenses up before relaxing but Nozomu notices. He frowns at Ryusei’s reaction and feels annoyance building up when Ryusei doesn’t say anything before turning back to the book in his lap.

“You’ll look at me one day,” Nozomu swears to nobody in particular. When he looks Ryusei, he spots a small smile playing on the other’s lips and he thinks that maybe, he has a chance.

Once he sets his mind to do it, he does it with ease and pure determination. It doesn’t take long before he gains enough courage to declare his love to Ryusei again. And soon, it becomes a weekly thing, gradually turning into a daily thing and eventually becoming a habit.

Though just as soon as it started, it ends as quickly as well because Nozomu doesn’t think he actually has to say _I love you_ one million times for Ryusei to say it back. He certainly doesn’t think that Ryusei doesn’t understand what he’s trying to say. And he’s definitely said it enough times that even a child who knows nothing about romance will know what he’s trying to get at.

So instead of saying it aloud, now Nozomu expresses it through actions – very simple things – like stroking Ryusei’s hair when the latter is reading on the bed, kissing him at random intervals, bringing him out and basically doing anything and everything that brings a smile onto the other’s face.

It’s working well, or so Nozomu thinks.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei starts one day when the sky is downcast and the clouds look like they’re ready to explode into tears any moment. “Stop saying that you love me.”

“But I haven’t been saying it anymore.” Nozomu frowns because he doesn’t know what Ryusei is about to say and it makes him feel jittery all over.

“Stop telling me that you love me,” Ryusei repeats. 

“I – what – Ryusei – but I – ”

“Stop showing me that you love me,” Ryusei cuts Nozomu off and his voice sounds shaky. “Stop doing things that you know will make me smile. Stop doing things which you know will make me happy. Stop making me feel like you love me. Stop doing so much for me. Stop making me feel like I’m special and precious. Stop making me know that you love me. Stop doing everything that shows how much you love me. Just stop,” Ryusei’s voice cracks so Nozomu knows that the other is crying. “Stop making me,” and Ryusei pauses to look up from the book he was reading to face Nozomu. Ryusei’s face is covered with tears and his lips are quivering like when he’s cold. “Stop making me not want to leave. Stop making me want to stay. Because I have to leave one day and you’re,” Ryusei hiccups and then he raises one hand to cup it over his mouth to prevent himself from making any more unnecessary noises. “You’re making it difficult to leave.”

That’s all it takes for Nozomu to walk over in a few long strides before he’s cradling Ryusei in his arms but Ryusei starts struggling to escape. “No,” Nozomu says firmly and holds Ryusei tighter, stopping the other’s struggles.

“It’s so difficult,” Ryusei chokes out. “You’ve made it so difficult, you have no idea.”

“I love you.” It’s all Nozomu can say at that moment and Ryusei only sobs further into his arms.

 

 

Things don’t change between them after that day though the _I’m/he’s leaving one day_ is left hanging in the air, unspoken between them. To make things better, Nozomu decides to bring Ryusei to his favourite local bookstore since the other is so fond of reading. He brings Ryusei out on a Saturday morning when the skies are so clear that they make the dull brown trunks by the roadside seem happy. So he thinks it’s a good way to start the day and hopefully, nothing goes wrong.

“Where are we going?”

Nozomu smiles because Ryusei is still as inquisitive as ever. “You’ll see.”

And Ryusei doesn’t say anything but Nozomu can feel the pout on the other’s lips. Maybe he’s just used to Ryusei and knows how the other behaves already. Maybe, just maybe, Ryusei is becoming a constant in Nozomu’s life.

“Surprise?” Nozomu asks sheepishly as he gestures awkwardly to the door of his favourite bookstore. It’s situated amongst a row of shop houses and its door is painted an ugly brown, making it stand out among the surrounding deep blue ones. From the outside, one can roughly see how the interior looks like through the translucent glass. The interior is simply a relatively narrow walkway lined with shelves of books and books and more books. There is an old rusty chime which rings whenever the door opens and one can catch a trace of the smell of baked apple pies and maple coffee.

The look on Ryusei’s face is definitely one of surprise as he gapes at the place. “It’s… wow.” Ryusei turns to look at Nozomu. “Thank you but why did you bring me here?”

“Because you’re always reading?”

“I try,” Ryusei admits truthfully and laughs when a startled expression graces Nozomu’s features. “They’re interesting.” And with that, Ryusei pulls the door open.

 

 

Nozomu tries his best to be as subtle as possible with his book recommendations to Ryusei but Ryusei doesn’t catch on at first so he gleefully accepts anything Nozomu pushes into his hand, with Nozomu telling him _it’s good_. It lasts for a while and Nozomu thinks of it as some sort of minor achievement because he usually fails at being subtle and gets caught really quickly, his intentions as obvious as ink on paper.

But really, it isn’t very difficult to catch on to what Nozomu is trying to say with all the books he is pushing into Ryusei’s hand, telling him to check it out because it’s interesting even though he hasn’t read some before. The titles and summaries all talk about or suggest that it’s about someone leaving and someone else trying to get the former to stay. The art of subtlety, Nozomu tries to master it.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei says with a sigh and Nozomu feels like a child who is just about to get reprimanded for stealing a lollipop from the forbidden jar of candies. “What are you trying to do?”

“Nothing” Nozomu responds quickly, too quickly perhaps and he sounds defensive. “It’s really nothing. Please don’t get mad or anything.” He winces at how desperate he sounds but he really _is_ desperate.

Ryusei sighs again and passes a few books back to Nozomu. “I can’t, Nozomu. I really can’t.”

So Nozomu stops recommending Ryusei titles with the underlying meaning of _don’t go_. He still continues recommending Ryusei books, only this time, they are books he knows of and really likes.

“You read a lot of fantasy books about stars, don’t you?” Ryusei questions with a small chuckle as he reads the summary of the book which Nozomu has just passed to him. “Or shooting stars,” Ryusei corrects himself when he spots that specific word in a few lines of the summary.

“You know me,” Nozomu laughs. “Astronomy geek.”

“More like shooting star geek,” Ryusei pipes in, grinning madly to himself but Nozomu’s face falls. The _yes_ Nozomu whispers goes unheard as the other continues exploring the exotic bookstore.

They (Nozomu) pay after Ryusei has his arms filled with books from a range of different genres. The satisfied look on Ryusei’s face is worth it, Nozomu convinces himself as he pays for the items.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei starts and Nozomu has a strange feeling that the day might not end up so well after all. “Why did you bring me to that bookstore? Besides the fact that I like reading.”

Nozomu can be truthful. He has nothing to lose after all. “I’m doing all I can to make you stay.”

“You know that’s not going to happen,” Ryusei mutters.

And that’s what Ryusei says but Nozomu continues holding on to the hope that one day, Ryusei might say that he’ll stay.

 

 

“Can you make me cookies?” The request from Ryusei comes rather unexpectedly to Nozomu one morning when the latter is just done washing up.

“Cookies?” Nozomu asks as he rummages through his wardrobe for a shirt. _Got to pack soon_ , he makes a mental note before he pulls out a hoodie and throwing it over his head. “How do you know I can bake?”

Ryusei frowns. “You gave me shooting star shaped cookies the other day.”

Oh. That day. It comes back to Nozomu all at once and he grimaces at the thought of it. But that day is long over and Nozomu doesn’t want to be reminded of any sad and bitter memories. Pushing the negative thoughts aside, Nozomu decides that he’s going to spend every day with Ryusei like it’s their last day together. It’s the only way.

“Let’s go grocery shopping.”

“Gro what?”

Nozomu doesn’t answer Ryusei and simply walks out the room while the other follows, not stopping his string of questions pertaining to grocery shopping (not that he even remembers the word ‘grocery’). But ‘grory’ is rather close, Nozomu thinks.

“Pick a shape,” Nozomu tells Ryusei when they’re standing in front of a range of cookie cutters.

Ryusei’s hand reaches out quickly to the snowman before he retracts it. He turns to Nozomu hesitantly as if he’s doing something wrong. “Any shape?”

“Any shape,” Nozomu echoes, reassuring Ryusei’s worries and the latter beams before picking the snowman cookie cutter and placing it into the basket.

 

 

“For someone who hates the cold, you sure love winter related stuff, don’t you?” Nozomu asks when they’re walking back to the house. The bag Nozomu is holding, which contains snowflake, snowman, Christmas tree, gingerbread man and candy cane shaped cookie cutters, jingle loudly.

“They’re cute,” Ryusei explains nonchalantly and Nozomu snorts in reply. A gingerbread man is anything but cute by Kotaki Nozomu’s standards. They’re too many cookie cutters anyway so maybe he can exclude the gingerbread man one way or another.

Things don’t go Nozomu’s way (as always) when Ryusei insists on using the gingerbread man first. Nozomu fakes a smile and takes the gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter before unwillingly pressing it into the dough.

“For gingerbread mans,” Nozomu starts as he presses the gingerbread man into another part of the dough. “They have to taste like ginger.” He goes over to a cupboard to pull out a bottle of dried ginger and Ryusei makes a face after smelling it.

“It doesn’t.” The resolute tone in Ryusei’s voice leaves no room for argument so Nozomu places it back to the cupboard and goes back to cutting out gingerbread mans.

“So why did you suddenly want cookies again?” Nozomu tries making small talk as they let the cookies bake.

Ryusei shrugs. “No particular reason. I just wanted to have them again.”

“You just want to taste my cooking again,” Nozomu jokes.

“Yeah.”

It’s just one word but it sounds as serious as Nozomu’s lecturer when the old man is scolding a bunch of freshmen for fooling around. And Nozomu wants to believe that there is something more than just simply a _yeah_. But there isn’t any sign that Ryusei is going to say more.

The _I want to remember everything about you_ goes unsaid by Ryusei as the oven dings.

 

 

It’s a Saturday morning where the sun has barely risen but Nozomu is sitting up on his bed as a sleeping shooting star lies asleep next to him, breathing slowly. He doesn’t know why he’s awake but he has a feeling it’s to check if Ryusei is still around. There has been a strange suspicion in his heart that Ryusei knows how to leave but he’s only staying on to break things off properly. For once, he hopes that his gut feeling is incorrect.

As he watches Ryusei sleep, the nagging suspicion is his heart rings louder and louder and he wants to pinch the other to make sure he’s still there but he doesn’t dare to. So he remains silent and continues to watch the other.

But Ryusei is shifting the next moment and fluttering his eyes open. “I can feel you staring, you know.”

“Sorry,” Nozomu mutters without really meaning it. And he feels significantly calmer after hearing Ryusei’s voice.

It’s a Saturday morning, Nozomu notes, which means that he can spend the whole day with Ryusei. Though he doesn’t really have anything planned out for the day yet. And honestly, he doesn’t want to spend another day holed up in his room as he watches Ryusei read the new stack of books they had bought together at Nozomu’s favourite bookstore. So he settles with washing up quickly and then forcing Ryusei out of bed to go wash up because he doesn’t want them to be wasting any time together.

 _Spend every day like it’s your last day with him_ , Nozomu subconsciously reminds himself before blurting out something he never intended to say. “Let’s go on a mini road trip over this weekend.”

Ryusei frowns and Nozomu tenses up but relaxes as soon as an all too familiar question slips from Ryusei’s mouth. “What’s a road trip?”

Like always, when it comes down to this, sometimes it’s easier to show Ryusei rather than to explain it to him in words, especially if it’s something they’re going to do anyway. Without another word, Nozomu pulls Ryusei into his father’s car but not before notifying his father that he needs the car for two days for a weekend road trip. All his father does is send him a sympathetic but understanding gaze before agreeing immediately without any further questions.

“Cold,” Ryusei complains as soon as he enters the car, causing Nozomu to throw him a frown because the air conditioner isn’t even turned on yet. “Don’t turn that on,” he continues as he stares pointedly at the vent which lets the cold air out.

Nozomu accedes to that simple request and scrolls the windows down instead to let some sort of ventilation get in.

Ryusei is talking again when Nozomu starts up the engine and pulls into the reverse gear to drive out of the garage. “So what’s a road trip? What do you do on it?”

Figuring that since Ryusei seems very pressed on getting an answer regarding what a road trip is _now_ , explaining would definitely be easier than showing.

“It’s a trip on the road,” Nozomu starts. “By car of course and it’s a fun thing to do I guess. You stop at a petrol kiosk every now and then or risk getting stranded in the middle of the road because you forgot to refill your oil tank,” he chuckles as he remembers a similar incident which had happened with Kamiyama and Sho before. “Then you walk to the nearest petrol kiosk which you find the location of from Google Maps with an empty container for filling it up. You drive in the wrong lane and go past the speed limit. You stop at random spots to get down and run in the wind or to take photos of trees and grass. You have to go to the beach,” he pauses because he doesn’t really know what else to say. “You fall in love.” Then he turns to look at Ryusei and finds the other sleeping soundly with his head resting against the window. Nozomu pities Ryusei for how uncomfortable his legs must be at the moment before realising that Ryusei has just fallen asleep on him.

Nozomu scowls and does nothing more and he turns back to face the road. Throwing Ryusei out of the car isn’t really an option.

A thought surfaces in Nozomu’s mind before he’s turning sideways to look at Ryusei again. _He’s been sleeping more than usual lately_ , Nozomu thinks. Which is weird because August is approaching soon and that means that the season for the annual Perseid meteor showers is going to happen again, meaning that Ryusei should be more active now. But he isn’t. On the contrary, Ryusei’s been sleeping more than Nozomu has ever seen the other sleep in the past two years and Ryusei’s movement has become more sluggish lately.

When Nozomu runs through the possibilities for Ryusei’s behaviour in his mind, he comes down to the most plausible explanation – Ryusei’s been on Earth for too long and he needs to go home. A shooting star isn’t made to stay on Earth.

For the third time ever since the pair has entered the car, Nozomu turns to look at Ryusei again. And then he steps on the breaks. Like the first time he had met Ryusei, he takes in Ryusei’s long eyelashes and smooth complexion. He takes in the other’s sharp and slightly curved nose. He takes in Ryusei’s plush lips. He takes in Ryusei’s dirty blonde hair which once used to be the brightest gold ever. He takes in all of Ryusei, engraving every single thing about Ryusei into his mind.

It is then that Nozomu decides to let Ryusei go.

 

 

The car has been moving for three hours nonstop; Ryusei has been asleep for three hours nonstop, not even giving the slightest trace of waking up. So when Nozomu finally stops the car in front of a relatively deserted beach, he doesn’t even have the heart to wake Ryusei from his slumber. He focuses on how empty the beach is; it’s surprising because Nozomu expected there to at least be some surfers since it’s summer now. But he did choose to go to a beach that isn’t that well known after all so maybe it’s not that surprising.

Half an hour has passed since the car has stopped but Ryusei still shows no sign of waking up. And still, Nozomu doesn’t want to wake Ryusei up. Instead, Nozomu switches off the engine to listen to the quiet hush of the waves washing up on the shore. He doesn’t know how long has passed before Ryusei wakes up and the first thing the other does is to start apologising profusely. But Nozomu shushes him quickly before telling him, “We’re here.”

They only walk a short distance by the shoreline before Ryusei is asking if they could just stop there because he is really tired.

“Maybe I’m dying,” Ryusei says conversationally as he buries his toes in the sand.

“No, you’re not,” Nozomu spits out harshly, angry that Ryusei can even think that.

Ryusei laughs and it sounds scarily cynical. “How would you know? I’m not even glowing anymore. I feel weak and sleepy all the time. My movements are slow and I can barely even walk properly at times.”

Though Nozomu has noticed all these symptoms = himself, it’s the first time he’s hearing it directly from Ryusei’s mouth. And it scares him.

“I won’t let you die on me, Ryusei.”

Ryusei turns to him and smiles so brightly that Nozomu’s heart skips a few beats. The twinkle of glee in Ryusei’s eyes tells Nozomu that the other is agreeing with him. Though they both know that there is actually nothing Nozomu can do about it.

“Nozomu.” Ryusei sounds tired and drained despite having just slept for almost five hours. “Can I sleep on your shoulder?”

It isn’t how a road trip or even how a mini road trip is supposed to turn out – stopping at one place and spending the whole day there – but Nozomu has come to terms with the fact that things don’t turn out how they are supposed to when he’s with Ryusei. And he’s more than fine with it so he nods while flashing Ryusei his million watt grin.

Obviously he is a little disappointed with the way things are turning out but he thinks maybe it’s worth it when Ryusei flashes him back an equally happy smile before resting his head on his shoulder.

The whole of the second day is not spent going to any particular place because Ryusei is too tired to even open his eyes properly. So Nozomu ends up driving around aimlessly and narrating what he sees to Ryusei at times because that’s what Ryusei wants. Though there are some things which remain unheard by Ryusei because he falls asleep at random intervals without meaning to. But Nozomu doesn’t mind.

When night falls, Ryusei becomes significantly more awake. Ryusei remains silent though as if he is still asleep. He probably doesn’t think that Nozomu knows that he’s feeling better now because he’s staring out the window in a daze without realising how Nozomu can see his reflection thanks to the street lamps.

“Ryusei,” Nozomu starts without turning to spare the other one look, pretending that Ryusei is still asleep and it is just him saying things he wants to without wanting the other to hear anything. “I love you.”

From the corner of his eye, Nozomu catches the way the side of Ryusei’s lips curving up instantly, sending a sweet smile onto his face. Maybe Ryusei doesn’t know because he can’t see himself but he’s smiling really happily, and Nozomu sees it all.

 

 

Maybe it’s the summer heat, maybe it’s the failed road trip or maybe it’s the ‘too many feelings bottled up ready to explode’ because even before Nozomu manages to get his key into the lock of the front door, Ryusei latches his lip onto the taller of the two.

It makes Nozomu drop his key, the object clattering noisily onto the ground and Nozomu has to interrupt the kiss by pulling apart. Despite it currently being around 3.30 am in the morning and no one is likely to be awake at this time to catch them kissing, Nozomu would rather not do it outside his front door. “Can we get in first?” He asks, a little breathless and Ryusei doesn’t say yes or anything but he bends down to pick up the key anyway before unlocking the door with shaky hands.

As soon as the door swings open with a gentle push from Nozomu’s hand, Ryusei jumps onto Nozomu, wrapping his arms and legs around the other’s neck and waist respectively before bringing their lips together into a fierce kiss. Nozomu wraps his hands around the other’s hips instantly to hold his weight up and doesn’t really notice if he has shut the door properly with an awkward kick from one of his legs.

Nozomu thinks they won’t make it up the stairs to his room without becoming a tangled mess of limbs on the floor first. But they somehow do though not without a little tripping and uneven footing along the way.

Once they’re in the room, Nozomu kicks the door shut and fumbles to lock the door. Then he slowly paces over to his bed, the kiss between the pair not breaking once until Nozomu’s knees knock into the side of his bed. So he breaks the kiss and smiles apologetically when Ryusei lets out a whine. Nozomu lowers Ryusei carefully on the bed before climbing onto the bed as well, hovering over Ryusei.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei whispers, voice so soft that Nozomu could just be imagining it. “I’m in love with you too. I’ve been for a while now. I just didn’t dare to say it.”

And Nozomu does think he’s imagining it so he needs confirmation and reassurance that Ryusei did say what he thinks he said. “Say it again.”

Even in the dark, Nozomu can see a faint blush rising to Ryusei’s cheek with the help of the moonlight dimly lighting up a part of Ryusei’s face.

“Nozomu, I love you too.”

Then Nozomu leans down and kisses Ryusei slowly, gently, and lovingly. The _I love you too_ doesn’t need to be said aloud for Ryusei to know what Nozomu means.

 

 

“Can you not watch the Perseid meteor showers this year?” Ryusei begs of Nozomu just a few days before the annual highlight of Nozomu’s year which is very oddly coming very early this year (2nd to 4th August).

Last year during the showers, Nozomu had brought Ryusei along to his special spot for viewing, claiming that it was the best spot in the whole world for seeing the Perseids and exaggerating about how only he and a handful people knew about it. Ryusei was thoroughly impressed but he had also looked uneasy and rather upset, though Nozomu hadn’t noticed. It was only when the first shooting star lit up the sky did Nozomu notice Ryusei feeling sad because he could hear quiet sobs coming from beside him.

Then he realised why Ryusei was crying and had brought him home straight away in fear of reopening unwanted wounds. And for the next two nights, Nozomu had gone to his special viewing spot by himself.

So when Ryusei makes this request, it shocks Nozomu because it isn’t like the former doesn’t know how much Nozomu cherishes this opportunity and looks forwards to it so much every single year.

“Please?” The pleading desperation in Ryusei’s voice forbids Nozomu from saying no so he nods wordlessly, thinking that it’s okay when Ryusei smiles at him, eyes crinkling and pearly white teeth showing. “Thank you, Nozomu, thank you.”

A few days later, at the start of the Perseids’ peak, Nozomu understands why Ryusei doesn’t want him to go see the showers. Ryusei is curled up next to Nozomu on the bed, pointing out constellations in the planetarium Nozomu has never heard of before. It might seem like Ryusei just wants to spend more time with Nozomu but with the way Ryusei is tightly gripping onto Nozomu’s fingers, the latter knows that it’s because Ryusei doesn’t want to be alone.

Nozomu squeezes Ryusei’s hand to let him know that he isn’t going anywhere. He tries very hard not to think about Ryusei leaving. But he can’t help thinking, _so you don’t go anywhere too_.

 

 

When Nozomu was still a young boy at the tender age of five, he had his first dream about space, the Milky Way and the bright twinkling lights he saw almost every night; the bright twinkling lights he begged his parents to let him see on starless nights. Since Elementary school, it had been his dream to study the galaxy and when he finally got into the faculty he wanted, it was more than a dream come true. It had been practically heaven on Earth and he was on cloud nine; nothing could bring him down.

And when he was still a child, young and impressionable, he had thoughts about meeting the moon, the stars, asteroids and shooting stars. Because the shows he had watched and the books he had read told him that stars, shooting stars and the moon were all just like humans. And he believed it all.

As he grew older, he realised that it wasn’t possible so he kept those thoughts away, almost out of his mind but never completely. He pushed it to the very back of his mind, locked it in a box, never to be opened again. Because it was a child’s fantasy, just a dream, nothing real, can’t be reality.

But two years ago, the strangest thing happened – a shooting star had fallen into his room; a talking, walking, almost passable as a human shooting star had fallen into his room. And it made all his dreams and thoughts as a child resurface in his mind because it was all true. It hadn’t been all been just a dream, at least the shooting star part was true (he still isn’t sure about the moon and the normal stars part).

Meeting a shooting star is disastrous, headache inducing and completely bizarre, but also intriguing, new and refreshing all at the same time. It’s like a tornado sweeping you off your feet when you’re still asleep and the feeling you get just before a rollercoaster drops from its peak; scary and heart stopping but exciting and stimulating all at the same time. The pump of adrenaline coursing through your vein in fast and in strong spurts, making you dizzy and out of control at the same time.

Then the strangest thing is when Nozomu falls in love with said shooting star, tilting his whole world of its axis and seeing everything upside down. Falling in love is strange and unfamiliar to Nozomu but he tries and he’s still trying. He didn’t ask for any of this but he has managed somehow. Though he doesn’t think he can keep his sanity or handle it properly if more shooting stars start popping up in his house and making their way through his life.

So when Nozomu finds two foreign faces in his room, just a day after the last of the Perseids’ peak, as soon as he walks out of his bathroom with his hair dripping and only a towel around his waist, he almost faints on the spot. It doesn’t help that Ryusei is merciless and doesn’t give him any time to recover from his shock before sending him into another stupor.

“Oh, Nozomu, you’re out!” Ryusei exclaims excitedly. Then he motions to the two figures standing opposite him, sitting on Nozomu’s bed. “They’re my sisters: Shuuka and Karen,” he points to each figure as he says their names.

Nothing is said between the four for what seems like forever and all Nozomu is doing is simply alternating between staring at Ryusei and the two strangers, who are supposedly Ryusei’s sisters, meaning that they are shooting stars _as well_. Another few more moments of uncomfortable silence and awkward staring (mostly on Nozomu’s part anyway), Nozomu darts back into the toilet and slams the door.

“Why did you go back in?!”

Nozomu can hear Ryusei shout from the outside but he ignores it and occupies himself with staring straight into the mirror above the sink. Then he hears steady knocking and groans. “What?”

“Come out.”

“No way,” Nozomu answers stubbornly. Yes, he may be acting a tad bit too childish right now but who can blame him? There are _three_ shooting stars in his bedroom and he’s barely in an appropriate state to be facing them.

“What’s wrong?” Ryusei asks and he sounds really soft when a door is separating him from Nozomu. “Just come out first. We can talk.”

There’s the pleading voice that Nozomu can’t say no to again. So he reluctantly opens the door and he’s immediately greeted with Ryusei’s brightened expression.

“Can you please get me some clothes first?”

 

 

“So what’s going on?” Nozomu questions when he’s finally settled on the floor, leaning against his bed after getting fully dressed.

“They’re my sisters,” Ryusei starts while gesturing to the two newcomers. “Shuuka – ”

“And Karen,” Nozomu cuts in. “Yeah, I got that much. But what are they doing here? Why are they here? What’s going on?” He sounds frantic and maybe a little hysterical but he can’t really be bothered that he’s sounding crazy in front of two strangers.

“I don’t like him,” one of the strangers, who look too similar to Ryusei, says and from a very faded memory, Nozomu registers that person as Shuuka. The other girl, Karen, nods her head in agreement with her sister.

“No one needs your opinion,” Nozomu bites back.

But Shuuka doesn’t respond to him, much less pay attention to him as she turns to Ryusei with a very unimpressed face. “Ryusei, you’ve been staying with this guy for the past two years?” Then she scrunches up her nose, which Nozomu deems a totally unnecessary action.

“Let’s all get along, shall we?” Ryusei laughs awkwardly and Karen is nodding her head furiously while tugging Shuuka’s arm and whispering _be nicer_. Then Ryusei turns to face Nozomu and the latter suddenly feels self-conscious for no particular reason. “They’re here because there’s a,” he pauses and looks at Shuuka.

“Festival,” Shuuka supplies helpfully and Ryusei nods his head to thank her.

“Festival,” Ryusei echoes after turning back to face Nozomu again. “They’re here because there’s a festival! So – ”

“Festival,” Nozomu deadpans. Because, _what_ festival?! “In my room?”

“No no no,” Ryusei corrects him quickly. “The festival is held somewhere else but they’re in your room because – ”

Nozomu pales. “Please don’t tell me they fell into my room.” He turns to check his window which is still perfectly intact unlike when Ryusei appeared in his room two years back.

“Can you shut up and let my brother finish?” Shuuka snaps and glares daggers at Nozomu. “Or I can tell you. We, Karen and I, are here because there’s a festival for shooting stars in the mountains. Every twenty thousand light years, a gate opens after the Perseids meteor shower which allows all of us to enter Earth for a celebration for one whole night. So it’s the first time in twenty thousand light years since the gate last opened and because the three of us weren’t born then, it’s our, and supposedly Ryusei’s, first time here too if he hadn’t clumsily fallen down two Earth years ago.”

Ryusei winces but Shuuka ignores him and continues. “We’re here, in your damn room, which we,” she feels Karen nudging her. “Or I at least, definitely don’t even want to be in, because we’re here to bring Ryusei home. The gate closes later and we all have to go through it to go back. So Karen and I left the celebration for a while to come pick him up. We didn’t expect to see him moving around so slowly and he isn’t even glowing anymore. Oh, and neither are his eyes _nor_ hair their original colour so I would like to know what happened to him here or more like, what did you do to him?”

“Shuuka, it has nothing to do with him,” Ryusei explains while frowning at his younger sister. “It’s just me. I can’t adapt to Earth.”

“Because you’re not supposed to,” Shuuka retorts. “So why are we still here? Let’s go back to the celebration and celebrate, see mum and dad again because they’re so worried about you and they miss you and they want to see you again. And then we can all go home together. You can finally leave Earth. Brilliant. Let’s go now.”

“What?” Nozomu says, incredulous and a little panicky. “No. No, you can’t. You can’t just take him away like that!”

From in between the two, Ryusei is looking back and forth between the two uncomfortably and squirming in his seat as if he wants to say something. He does try to say something but Shuuka beats him to it.

“And why not?” Shuuka fixes a stern look on Nozomu. 

_Because I love him_ , Nozomu wants to say as he looks to Ryusei. “Because you just can’t,” Nozomu argues weakly instead and Shuuka scoffs.

“Let me tell you that we _can_ ,” Shuuka says mockingly. “Because he’s our family and he doesn’t belong here and he has to go home.”

Next to her, Karen is nodding her head and Nozomu wishes she would actually say something instead of agreeing with everything Shuuka says because she definitely seems more amiable. But seeing that since Shuuka is the older of the two, naturally, Karen wouldn’t be cutting in any time or going against her sister. Karen sends Nozomu a pitying glance and Nozomu is almost thankful for it but he can’t get the fact that they are here to take Ryusei away out of his mind. They are going to take Ryusei away from him. Forever.

Yes, he has told himself that when the time comes, if it ever does, that he would let Ryusei go. He has spent every day with Ryusei to its fullest and he has been preparing himself for this moment. But now that it is here, he finds himself unable to let Ryusei go.

“Nozomu, right?” Karen asks politely as she walks over to Nozomu and squats opposite him, levelling their eyes together. “Nii-chan has to leave. He really can’t stay here or he’ll die,” she lowers her volume near the end and says the last word in barely a whisper.

But Nozomu heard her clearly and he gulps. He doesn’t want Ryusei to die. So he finds himself saying out loud a very soft _okay_ before his lips go dry. He barely registers Shuuka saying _let’s go_ but when he does realise it, he blurts out the next thing without even thinking it through. “Can I come along?”

“Yes.” / “No.” Ryusei and Shuuka say simultaneously before they turn to each other with hard stares.

“Yes,” Ryusei grits out.

“No,” Shuuka answers back, sounding equally as adamant about her stand. “It’s a festival for _shooting stars_. He’s a _human_.”

“He’s an exception then.”

“You don’t call the shots.”

Then they both turn to look at Karen. They’re making Karen choose a side and she knows it so she gives her usual answer. “I’m with nii-chan on this.”

Shuuka throws her hands up in defeat. “Why do I even bother asking you?” She sends Nozomu an unimpressed look. “Fine, you can come but we’re going by our way. No human forms of transportation, please. They’re too slow and we don’t have a lot of time.”

What Shuuka means by ‘our way’ is something like teleportation or more like _how shooting stars move_ , according to Karen who explains to Nozomu gleefully. Well, Nozomu isn’t used to either of that so as soon (about one second later) as he feels solid ground again, his face turns green and he’s wobbling over to a bush to empty his dinner. And possibly his lunch and breakfast too. Maybe last night’s dinner as well.

“Weakling,” Shuuka concludes as she eyes Nozomu’s hunched form over the bush.

“Human,” Ryusei corrects and scowls at her. “He’s not weak at all.”

“Whatever,” Shuuka says and turns on her heels to walk away.

Only Karen stays behind with Ryusei and she smiles at him. “It’s really good to see you again, nii-chan. Though you don’t seem too well,” she pouts at him and he pats her lightly on the head. “Oh and Shuuka misses you a lot too. She’s just too,” Karen pauses to do some motions with her hands but the confused look Ryusei gives her tells her that she’s not sending her message across very well with her gestures. “She’s just too Shuuka, you know? She talks about you a lot and she’s very worried.”

Hearing this from Karen gets Ryusei grinning happily because he knows that Shuuka definitely misses him. But still, he just wants some sort of confirmation. “I’ll get better,” Ryusei assures Karen and just to reaffirm her because she gets insecure easily. He squeezes her hand lightly. “You’ll take care of me right?”

“Of course,” Karen answers cheerily before she turns to look at Nozomu, who’s still puking in the bushes. “What’s your relationship with him, nii-chan? Do you like him?”

“Kind of,” Ryusei mutters, turning to look at Nozomu as well. “I think it’s more than ‘like’. It’s more of ‘love’.”

“Is it difficult to leave?” The tone in Karen’s voice is concerned and Ryusei appreciates how much his sister is thinking about his feelings.

And then Ryusei gives her a sad smile. “Very.”

 

 

When Nozomu is finally done with emptying his stomach and walks back to the place he landed at with unstable legs, Ryusei and Karen are sniggering at him. So much for being sympathetic. Then Karen pats Ryusei on the back before turning to walk away, intending to give Ryusei and Nozomu some alone time for last goodbyes.

“Karen,” Ryusei calls out before she’s out of sight. “How long more till the gate closes?”

“An hour?” She replies unsurely.

“Two.” It’s Shuuka’s voice and Ryusei beams. “So you have two more hours for anything you want to do. You don’t have to celebrate with us. Do what you want.”

Coming from Shuuka, though it may sound harsh but since Ryusei knows better, he knows that it means _do what you have to do and leave no regrets behind_. She’s just not very good with relationships and words. But Ryusei knows how his younger sister is so he pats her shoulder and she gives him a reassuring smile before she walks away again, this time with Karen.

“Ryusei,” Nozomu starts when he’s standing in front of Ryusei. He’s stopped just a foot away, afraid of closing the distance between them, afraid of being too close. “So this is it?”

Ryusei shakes his head. “Let’s not talk about it. Let’s join the celebration instead.”

 

 

“You guys have fruit punch?” Nozomu muses as he stares at the pinkish purple liquid mix in a bowl. “Seriously?”

“I don’t know, don’t ask me,” Ryusei says with a laugh. “It’s my first time here too, remember? Why don’t you try it?”

So Ryusei scoops a cup full of what Nozomu assumes is fruit punch before pushing his hand out for the latter to take the cup. Nozomu eyes the cup suspiciously.

“What? Too afraid to drink it?” Ryusei teases.

“No way.” Then Nozomu takes the cup and gulps it down in one mouth (while holding his breath and with his eyes shut tight).

The way he drinks it gets Ryusei chuckling but he ignores him and focuses on the lingering sweet taste in his mouth. Definitely fruit punch.

There are a group of shooting stars dancing nearby and Ryusei sends Nozomu a playful glance. And Nozomu returns it with a weary one. Though before Nozomu can say anything, Ryusei is pulling him over to join the group of dancing glittering shooting stars.

Nozomu is dancing messily, more like jumping up and down while holding Ryusei’s hands and spinning around with the crowd until he starts feeling dizzy from the much too blinding brightness and too much motion. Somehow he manages to pull Ryusei out of the circle to catch his breath but the other seems absolutely fine.

 _Shooting star_ , Nozomu’s mind seems to be reminding him for the last time before Ryusei is dragging him to another long table housing an array of food. After the mini food tasting session from almost every plate, Ryusei drags him to an area where there are games to play. And after a few rounds of summer festival games, Ryusei drags him to where the shooting stars are _drinking_.

“Can you drink?” Nozomu asks Ryusei casually because he just realises that he doesn’t know Ryusei’s tolerance for liquor at all. Although he never really had a chance to find out because he isn’t much of a drinker himself and only drinks when he’s at one of Sho’s crazy parties.

“Obviously,” Ryusei says with a roll of his eyes before downing a glass of liquor which Nozomu can’t name in one shot before refilling his glass and emptying it as quickly as the first. “You should drink too.”

Truthfully, Nozomu wants to say no but Ryusei is looking at him with pleading eyes. He scowls but he accepts the glass Ryusei pushes towards him anyway and drinks it slowly. His mother told him that drinking slowly would help with his tolerance for liquor.

When his vision starts to get a little blurry minutes after, Nozomu sets the glass down on the table and watches Ryusei finishing another round of shots with fascination. At the back of his mind, he’s wondering why Ryusei can drink _so damn much_ but he’s feeling too lightheaded to formulate any coherent sentence.

“We can’t get drunk like humans,” Ryusei explains as if he knows what’s on Nozomu’s mind.

“Don’t drink so much,” Nozomu slurs as he pulls Ryusei’s glass out of the latter’s hand and sets it next to his glass, spilling some of the liquor along the way because his hands are a little shaky. “It’s not good for you.”

“But it doesn’t affect me,” Ryusei reasons as he reaches for his glass only to be stopped by Nozomu. He frowns at the taller guy. But he stops as soon as he sees Nozomu’s lost expression. “Nozomu?”

“Come with me.” That’s all Nozomu says before he grabs Ryusei’s hand and drags him away from all the lights and merry into a quieter area where he finally lets go of the other’s hand before plopping down onto the grass.

Ryusei settles down next to him and stretches out his legs while leaning on his hands for balance.

“Can I meet your parents?” Nozomu asks with a grin.

“Why?” Ryusei eyes Nozomu.

“Because you met mine,” Nozomu replies simply and it earns him a laugh from Ryusei. “It’s only fair I meet yours.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Ryusei?” A voice calls from a near distance. “Ryusei, is that you?” The voice grows closer and Ryusei turns to the source of it, brightening up instantly.

“Mum! Dad!” Ryusei calls out excitedly when he spots two familiar figures and then they appear before him in the blink of an eye.

“Looks like you have no choice.” Nozomu grins and stands up before bowing to Ryusei’s parents. “I’m Nozomu.”

“He’s been taking care of me,” Ryusei pipes in as he stands up.

Ryusei’s mother looks at Nozomu from top to bottom and he starts feeling self-conscious again. Also, Ryusei’s father isn’t looking at him with very kind eyes.

“Thank you for taking care of our son,” Ryusei’s father says, his voice low and gruff and it sends an involuntary shiver down Nozomu’s spine.

“No- no proble- m at all,” Nozomu stutters and Ryusei laughs heartily. “It’s my pleasure.”

And then Ryusei’s father gives him a smile which doesn’t look threatening or frightening at all and Nozomu lets out a sigh of relief.

“I’m sorry to intrude,” Ryusei’s mother starts, making Ryusei’s face fall. She gives her son a sympathetic glance before continuing. “But the gate is closing in half an hour so you’ll have to leave soon, Ryusei. I know you’ve been here for two Earth years and you might miss the place but remember that you don’t belong here and that you have to go home. This is the only chance you get otherwise you’ll have to wait for another twenty thousand light years and we really don’t want that, Ryusei.” She turns to Nozomu. “I’m sorry, Nozomu. You seem like a very nice boy but you must understand that Ryusei can’t stay here.”

“I understand,” Nozomu says, willing his voice to be steady. “I understand,” he repeats, more for himself than to assure Ryusei’s parents and his voice breaks a little.

“We’re about to leave but we bumped into Shuuka and she told us that you were here so we decided to look for you first,” Ryusei’s father explains and his mother nods. “It’s nice meeting you, Nozomu,” he nods towards the other and Nozomu becomes flustered, nodding back quickly. “Just make it back in time, Ryusei.”

With that, Ryusei’s parents bid Nozomu goodbye before walking off into the gate which brings them home to Perseus. Nozomu can’t help but think that there’s where Ryusei will be heading to in thirty minutes.

But thirty minutes is one thousand and eight hundred seconds and that’s equivalent to a hundred and eight thousand milliseconds. Nozomu chooses to focus on the last option because the numbers are bigger so he can pretend that they still have a lot of time together.

When in fact they don’t and Ryusei is saying he has to leave even before Nozomu reaches one minute in his mind.

“No,” Nozomu says, voice quivering.

“Then how long more can I stay?” Ryusei asks, sounding torn. “I’m not good with counting, you know that.”

“You still have twenty five minutes,” Nozomu lies but Ryusei shakes his head sadly. “You can’t leave. I still haven’t brought you out of this city yet. I haven’t brought you to the summer festivals and I haven’t gone in years but if you stay until next year, I can bring you. It’s really fun. We haven’t gone on a proper road trip together yet. You haven’t attended my graduation ceremony yet. We haven’t,” he hiccups. “We still haven’t done a lot of things together yet. Ryusei,” he sounds torn and broken and Ryusei wants to hug him and never let go. “Ryusei, you can’t leave.”

“Nozomu,” Ryusei starts, sounding as broken and Nozomu finds his heart aching painfully at the thought of not being able to hear that voice saying his name again, not being able to hear that voice ever again. “I have to go.”

“You have ten more minutes!” Nozomu lies again and Ryusei is shaking his head while biting his lower lip. “Eight,” Nozomu says and he feels salty taste in his mouth which feels bitterer instead. Again, Ryusei is shaking his head but this time, Nozomu can see tears prickling at the corner of his eyes. “Seven.” And Nozomu finally realises that his cheeks are wet, stained with ugly tears flowing uncontrollably from his eyes. “Six.” Ryusei presses his lips into a thin line and the tears in his eyes are threatening to spill. “Five.” By now, Nozomu doesn’t recall what he’s counting down for.

“Nozomu,” Ryusei chokes out. “I really have to go now.”

“You still have a minute left,” Nozomu breathes out slowly, sounding more broken than ever. “You still have sixty seconds left.”

“Nozomu,” Ryusei whines as the tears in his eyes are finally spilling over like scattered pearls, falling fast and freely. Then he grabs Nozomu’s face and pulls him in for a kiss. The kiss is urgent, bittersweet and loving all mixed together and Nozomu doesn’t want to let go as Ryusei tries to pull away. “I have to go,” Ryusei whispers against the other’s lips.

“Ryusei, I love you,” Nozomu splutters out when he pulls away. “I love you,” he repeats, hoping Ryusei would stay.

But life doesn’t work that way and things never go Nozomu’s way. “Nozomu, I love you too,” Ryusei says softly and gently as he cups Nozomu’s face. Then he lets his hands fall before he pulls Nozomu into a tight embrace and breathes in every scent of him.

This is the last time, Nozomu thinks as he pulls Ryusei in for another kiss. When they pull apart, Ryusei backs away before turning around completely and walking away quickly. This time, they both know Ryusei isn’t going to turn back and this time, Nozomu isn’t going to stop him anymore.

Instead, Nozomu trails after Ryusei from a distance. And when he sees a massive wall of bright light, he stops walking and closes his eyes, so he doesn’t have to see Ryusei walking through it. When he opens his eyes again, all he sees are the surrounding trees and bushes.

“Ryusei?” Nozomu calls out, imagining that Ryusei would be jumping from behind any one of the trees any moment and shouting _surprise_ or maybe _boo_. Probably ‘boo’. It’s more like him. So Nozomu waits and waits and waits; he waits for a tap on the shoulder, he waits for a spooky sounding voice, he waits for a familiar face to pop up. But none of it happens and he’s all alone.

Nozomu walks over to where the wall of bright light once was just a few moments ago. There, on the surrounding patches of grass, he finds that they are dusted with piles and streaks of glitter. Or _shooting star dust_ , he thinks as he remembers what Ryusei had once told him.

How typical of the shooting stars to disappear in the blink of an eye and leaving behind trails of white glimmering sparkles in their wake.

“Ryusei?” Nozomu tries again. But this time he doesn’t imagine anything happening. Because this time, he’s sure that Ryusei has left, that Ryusei is gone forever. No one is going to try scaring him by faking a fail spooky voice and jump on his back. No one is going to pop up from behind a tree or a bush. No Ryusei is going to appear in front of him ever again. Because this time, he knows that Ryusei will never be in his life ever again.

“Ryusei,” Nozomu whispers for the last time. Then he looks up at the sky and finds the moon shining particularly bright tonight and the stars are twinkling merrily and it looks like they’re laughing at his misery.

At the back of his mind, Nozomu hears Ryusei’s voice, he hears Ryusei’s _what is this?_ , Ryusei’s _why_ , Ryusei’s laughter, Ryusei whining, Ryusei sounding too imperious for his own good, Ryusei sounding confused and lost, Ryusei’s _Nozomu_ and of course, Ryusei’s _I love you_.

 

 

The first thing Nozomu does when he gets home is to shove the planetarium in his room to the back of his wardrobe and dump a stack of books into a worn out box before kicking it under his bed. Though three days later, he pulls the box out from underneath his bed and goes through the books one by one. He spends the next few days holed up in his room and reads every single one of them. Even when Kamiyama or Sho calls, he doesn’t pick up. Even when they come banging on his door, he doesn’t answer and it’s making his family members extremely worried.

Although he does leave his room once in a while when he’s unable to tolerate the hunger any longer. He tells his family members to give him some time alone and that he’ll get over it. Soon.

Soon doesn’t come in one week as he spends the whole of the seventeenth of August sitting on his bed, resting his back against his headboard, staring idly at the wall opposite.

“Nozomu, I’m leaving your dinner outside your room.”

“Okay,” Nozomu answers his mother half-heartedly because he won’t even be eating it and she knows it too but she’s just trying and he appreciates her effort but he just can’t stomach anything. He tried that morning but ended up emptying his stomach the next minute. So it’s really better not to eat anything.

He doesn’t know how long he’s been staring into space until a sudden thought strikes him. And then he’s scrambling off his bed and dashing for his wardrobe, which he flings open none too gently and rummages through it for a familiar looking object. The planetarium. He finally finds it buried beneath a stack of clothing and pulls it out triumphantly.

“Now what?” Nozomu wonders aloud as he stares at the planetarium. In all honesty, he has forgotten how to operate the thing and he thinks he has lost the manual teaching him how to operate it.

There’s only one way to get around this problem – trial and error. So Nozomu spends ten minutes before he finally finds the button to turn the planetarium on. And then he spends another thirty minutes before he manages to adjust the settings properly. Finally, he spends around ten to fifteen minutes trying to find a suitable spot in his room to place it so that the galaxy is projected out nicely in his room. After all the technical things are out of the way, he sets his goal solely to find one constellation – Perseus.

It’s difficult to find the planet seeing as Nozomu doesn’t even have a single clue how to operate the thing, let alone make the constellations shift until he can see Perseus. But he doesn’t give up as he continues pressing some buttons on the planetarium and even turning it off once by accident and he then has to spend a few more minutes figuring out how to switch it on again. He’s never been good with things like this despite his incredibly apt fingers with telescopes. He probably has some sort of affinity with telescopes or something. 

Somehow, he manages and he actually feels beaten out when at long last he’s staring at the planet he’s been looking for in what seems like forever. He glances to his clock to check the time. _2.59 am_ , it reads.

He digs out the telescope Ryusei had given to him on his birthday and rushes out of his room to go to the rooftop. 

On the rooftop, lying on his back, allowing the familiar summer night breeze to caress his cheeks, he tries finding Perseus without the help of his telescope first. He doesn’t actually see the constellation with his naked eye but he thinks it’s at a particular spot where he guesses is at and pins that area to his mind before putting his telescope into action. And he’s upset to note that Perseus isn’t where he had thought it to be. Well, it is impossible to see the constellations without a telescope anyway, unless if they are as big as Virgo.

_For when I leave and you need a telescope to see the stars again._

“Happy twenty sixth birthday, Ryusei.”

 

 

One day when Nozomu is clearing away useless messages from his inbox, he clicks the spam folder by accident and finds a notification from yahoo answers there. He stares at it for a few moments, not wanting to open the message because he only roughly remembers using it once before but he can’t remember what exactly. And he also has a strange sense of paranoia telling him that it’s a virus. But curiosity gets the better of him in the end, compelling him to open the message.

 _One new reply_ , it read, along with a link leading directly back to the page where Nozomu had posted a question before. So Nozomu opens the link after hovering his cursor over it for a few seconds, unsure if he really wants to see what it is all about. Upon seeing the question, memories, both hurtful and joyous, come rushing back to him. Maybe he shouldn’t have clicked on the link after all. It is definitely something he had posted when he had been desperate. And he has the urge to close the page but he wants to read the answer. It takes all of his willpower to move his cursor away from the red ‘x’ and scroll down to the new answer.

As he scrolls down the page, he rereads some of the annoying answers he had gotten in the past. While he had gotten pissed off at them previously, now he’s just laughing at their idiocy. He takes his time scrolling down the page and reads the newest answer slowly once he has reached the bottom.

 _So did you manage to find out how to get a fallen shooting star home?_ It is a question directed back to Nozomu and somehow, he feels the need to answer it.

_When it’s time for him to leave, he’ll get the chance to leave._

Nozomu rereads his reply over and over again, wondering what else he should say or if he should rephrase the whole thing. But it doesn’t really matter anymore, does it? So he clicks the send button after rereading it a few more times.

The next day, he gets a simple _thanks_ and then he deletes the question.

 

 

On the night before Nozomu’s graduation ceremony for completing his master’s degree, he makes his way to his favourite spot in the house after having dinner with his family. He doesn’t bring along the telescope he had been given as a birthday present three years ago. He thinks he can see the constellations he wants to see tonight without the help of the telescope. If his imagination is able to stretch that wide that is. But he has faith that he can see what he wants to.

Lying on his back, Nozomu has to prop his knees up at a rather uncomfortable angle to ensure that his legs don’t dangle off the roof (though he’s going to let them dangle sooner or later). There aren’t many stars in the sky tonight, causing him to be a little disappointed but he pushes that disappointment aside to focus on his task, to look for Perseus.

He spends a good two hours trying to find that constellation by mapping out shapes with whatever stars he can see in the sky but still no sign of Perseus. Instead, he finds a flickering light in one spot of the sky which doesn’t look like a star but Nozomu takes it as one anyway and spends another hour looking at that glimmer alone.

When the temperature dips and goose bumps start appearing all over Nozomu’s arms, he thinks it’s time to retreat to his room.

As soon as he’s in his room, he’s actually ready to collapse onto his bed and let fatigue take over but something tells him he has to see Perseus tonight. So he grabs the telescope positions it near his window. He looks through the eyepiece and sets out to look for Perseus.

Surprisingly, he finds Perseus in no time because he’s already so familiar with where it and the other constellations surrounding it usually are. But he also finds that same flicker of light he had been staring at for the past hour. He doesn’t think it’s a star because stars don’t flicker like that.

Nozomu moves away from the eyepiece to stick his head out of the window to get a closer look at that one shimmer. Though of course, he isn’t able to get closer to it at all and it doesn’t allow him to get a better look either. But he doesn’t really need to get closer or have a clearer view.

The white spot is flickering slowly and Nozomu smiles at it, wondering if it’s trying to tell him anything.

 

 

In the year 2024, the prediction for the annual Perseids meteor shower comes as a surprise to Nozomu. _4th to 6th August_ , various websites tell him. It’s a little too early and unusual, just like it had been five years ago, the year Ryusei had left.

And a thought strikes Nozomu, making excitement course through his veins but he doesn’t want to be making guesses because he can’t guarantee anything. But at least now, there’s still some sort of hope he can cling on to. Some sort of hope that he can meet Ryusei again.

It’s the first time Nozomu is counting down to the end of the showers’ peak rather than to its start and it shocks his both family members and friends alike. They get an even bigger shock when Nozomu doesn’t go to his special spot on the last day of the Perseids’ peak, choosing to spend the whole night at home instead.

That night, he opens his window before he goes to his bed. And he leaves the window open for the whole night as he sleeps. When morning comes, he’s expecting to hear soft mumbling and some groaning but it doesn’t happen. He waits for a while but still, he hears nothing. So tonight is his only hope left.

Night time doesn’t come as soon as Nozomu wants it to because he’s been walking around his whole neighbourhood and it’s barely evening. An easier way to pass time would have been to sleep but the caffeine he had earlier on in the day was preventing him from even shutting his eyes for more than a few seconds. So sleep hadn’t been an option.

Night comes in what Nozomu feels like twenty million light years and he immediately jumps into his father’s car after telling his father that he _has_ to borrow it. He’s kicking start the engine before he even has his seatbelt on properly and it’s his mother’s reprimanding voice in his mind that makes him remember to fasten his seatbelt. He starts speeding down the road, ignoring the speed limit.

He’s going down an unfamiliar route, one that he has never taken before but his instincts tell him it’s where he has to go. And he trusts his instincts so he speeds on. Although it is like driving blindly, without a specific direction in mind, Nozomu thinks he knows what his destination is.

At the top of a mountain is where he finally kills the engine and he stays in the car to calm his heart rate, not even aware of when it had sped up during the drive. When he’s able to start taking in normal, deep breaths, he hops off the car and finds himself on familiar ground. It’s the place where Ryusei and he had separated five years ago.

Holding on to a strong belief that something magical is going to happen, Nozomu settles near the bushes and crumbles the material of his jeans.

There’s a burst of bright light and Nozomu is blinded for a few moments before he regains his sight and he’s faced with a thousand, no, tens of thousands glowing lights, glowing shooting stars. With unsteady legs, he stands and walks over to the crowd of glittering white lights. He knows who he’s looking for and he absently makes a mental note, _twenty thousand light years is five years on Earth_.

Nozomu finds the shooting star he’s looking for when he spots pure golden hair, shimmering even amongst the lights around and an accented curved nose. He doesn’t say anything as he walks over, only tapping the other lightly on the shoulder.

The other spins around and Nozomu finds himself locking gazes with a pair of sparkling silvery gold orbs blinking back at him curiously. Then Nozomu unconsciously finds his lips twisting upwards into the biggest smile he’s ever had in five years and the smile he gets in return is equally as wide.

“Hey you clumsy shooting star, did you trip and fall again?”

 

 

Twenty thousand light years is equivalent to five years on Earth. That’s what Nozomu learnt four years ago. And ever since then, he’s found himself counting down to the next five years already, excited for a particular day to come.

On nights when sleep eludes him, he passes time watching the stars from his bedroom window. He knows where Perseus is by heart so he doesn’t need a telescope to find it. Though he’s still unable to see the full constellation with his naked eye, he thinks it’s fine. Because near Perseus, there’s a flickering white dot there permanently, not quite a star but not quite a satellite either.

Nozomu doesn’t know what it is exactly but in his mind, he sees Ryusei. He thinks it’s Ryusei blinking down at him slowly with curious eyes, a mildly confused look painted across his face as he points to some part of Earth, eyes never leaving Nozomu’s as he asks, “Nozomu, what is this?”


End file.
